The Outbreak Chronicles
by Lord 0f Storms
Summary: Eight scenarios, eight survivors. Each chapter follows a different survivor in their hectic escape from Raccoon City.
1. Outbreak: Mark

Each chapter will be a scenario from the point of view of a different survivor. I watched some videos of their ad-libs and whatnot (sadly they don't have it in the European version of the games), so I feel like I have a decent idea about their personalities. Enough to try this story, anyway! There aren't really any pairings, just a bit of ship-teasing.

Disclaimer: Any medical/scientific/computer babble is pulled from my butt, I know literally nothing about it. Possibly some Google magic.

...

Outbreak

...

Everyone was panicking. Mark knew that he should be doing something to help – he had years of army service to recommend him for high pressure combat situations. All he could think about at the moment was how grey and ashen Bob looked. His friend was hunched over in pain, wheezing and frail. Bob had always been the more energetic and jolly of the two of them, while Mark had been the calm, stoical one. What had happened to him in the space of one evening? Mark hadn't even realised his friend was sick.

He looked around for someone to help, but the man who seemed to be a doctor was helping the waitress, Cindy, with the bartender's gaping neck wound. Meanwhile the cop was yelling at a white woman in red and a subway worker to get away from the windows, while he pushed the barrel tables to keep the door shut.

That was when Mark actually noticed the bodies at the window. It was like nothing he had seen in 'Nam. Decaying, gangrenous people pressed up against the glass, thumping it with their hands as they tried to get in. The door rattled as the barricade resisted them, but it cracked open enough to admit their groaning and snarling.

What the hell were they?

"Maybe if we turn off the lights and stay quiet, they'll leave us alone?" squeaked the subway worker.

"Screw that," said the woman in red, who Mark was sure he recognised from the local newspaper. "We need to get out of here right now."

The cop moved to the waitress, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Miss, do you know if there's a way up to the roof? We'll be safer up there."

"Will… he's injured…"

"Leave me behind, Cindy, I can't make it," the bartender groaned, one hand uselessly trying to stem the flow from his neck. "We all know it... but you can still be safe... the cops must be doing... something to stop this."

She nodded reluctantly, seeming slightly dazed. "I'll get the keys, we can get to the roof from the staff room. I'm so sorry, Will."

Mark wrapped an arm around Bob to help the man to his feet. The doctor finally approached, leaving the bartender behind. "Could I take a look at your friend, please? My name is George Hamilton, I'm a doctor."

He shone a pen light into Bob's eyes as he inspected the man, asking him questions about his breathing and whether it hurt to move. Bob seemed barely able to respond, as though his mind was wandering.

"How long has he been like this?"

"Just this evening. Why, what's wrong with him? Is he alright?"

George looked pensive. "We should hurry upstairs. I don't have much in my medical kit but I could at least check him over."

"Isn't there anything you can give him?"

"Without knowing his medical history, I could inadvertently make it worse. I wouldn't want to cause a heart attack or allergic reaction." The doctor sounded evasive, like he was just putting Mark off. Then he asked Bob if he was experiencing intense hunger. What a strange question.

The doctor helped Mark navigate his friend upstairs, whilst the cop locked and barricaded the door behind them. By the time they arrived upstairs, the others were all in action. A man in brown overalls was gathering pieces of wood to nail across the staff room's open entryway. The journalist in red had recruited a young East Asian woman to help her find possible weapons. The subway worker was looking for a key to get them up to the building's next level – and therefore the roof. Cindy meanwhile seemed to have composed herself remarkably well, and was tearing leaves off plants and inserting them into a small case.

She glanced up at Bob as they brought him through and lowered him onto the couch. "Oh, I have something here that should help if you're in pain!"

"Is that… strictly legal?" the doctor asked.

"Yes!" she said defensively. "They're just herbs, but some of them have antiseptic properties, can draw out poisons–"

"My apologies, I admit I know precious little about herbal remedies. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, please continue while I talk to this gentleman."

Cindy smiled, laying out her case next to Bob and carefully selecting some combination of herbs. George drew Mark off to the side until they were out of earshot. The doctor dropped his voice until Mark could barely hear him over the sound of the handyman's nail-gun.

"I'm afraid I don't have good news. Your friend shows every sign that he's dying."

"What?! How is that possible?"

"He showed no prior signs of illness, never referred to anything of the sort?" George asked. Mark shook his head. "It's as I feared. Over the past couple of days, we have seen a sudden increase in people with strange illnesses with no diagnosis. I had heard of a similar occurrence some time ago at an abandoned hospital, but nothing in Raccoon itself. All victims seemed to be dying of no particular cause, and the further along they got, the more intense their hunger."

"Any survivors?"

"None, I'm sorry. After differing periods of time, they would all die."

Mark felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He was no stranger to losing people – how many comrades had he seen fall to gunfire or traps in the war? But this was different, it was civilian territory, and the people attacking them weren't soldiers… they were primal, trying to kill people like savage animals.

He didn't know what to do. But he knew what he couldn't do. He couldn't leave his friend behind. Bob had lived through the horror of war too, he couldn't die like this.

"Everybody c'mere!" ordered the reporter." She gestured to the subway worker. "Jim's found the key, but we might as well arm ourselves before we head on up."

"I found a gun in Jack's office," Cindy said. "He always kept it in case someone tried to rob the bar…" Her expression grew sad. "I wonder if he's okay…"

The cop gave her an encouraging smile. "I'm sure he's fine, this can't be happening in the whole city."

She smiled back at him, not even noticing the handyman until he'd taken the gun right out of her hands.

"I'll take that."

"Hey!" she protested.

"Hands off, buddy!" warned the cop, hand flying straight to his own gun. "Give that back to her now."

The handyman gave him a flat look. "Can she use it?" He turned back to her. "You ever fired a gun before?"

"Well, no…"

"The way I see it, we've got a better chance of survival if the people who actually know how to use weapons are the ones carrying them."

The cop fired up. "Oh yeah, and who put you in charge?"

"Calm yourselves," Mark said firmly. He didn't need to shout or get aggressive like the two younger men. There was enough authority in his deep voice to stop the argument immediately. He addressed the handyman. "Son, we are in a war zone right now. You need to work together with the rest of the group and voice ideas if you have them. This isn't the time to think yourself the big man at everyone else's expense. Do you understand me?"

"Sorry," he muttered, having the good grace to look away.

"Now, you did have a good idea," Mark added, wiping the momentarily smug look from the cop's face. Mark hoped he didn't have some trigger-happy cowboy in this man. The last thing they needed was a hot-headed liability. "We need weapons in able hands. Bob can't use his gun, so are any of you others a decent shot?"

"Me," the reporter said immediately. She made a 'give it to me' gesture with her hand.

"You?" the cop asked in surprise.

She smirked. "I've had more hours at the range than you've had haircuts, pretty boy."

The handyman snorted in amusement, and the cop grinned at her. The animosity seemed to have passed for now. Mark handed her the gun, and the remaining four civilians were given the improvised weapons that she and the East Asian girl had found. Those mostly consisted of wood broken off furniture, and bits of piping, but it was a lot better than nothing. Bob wasn't given a weapon. Mark wasn't sure he would even have been able to hold it now. He barely looked as if anything was registering.

The door to the stairway splintered and cracked. The heavy sounds of bodies pouring through reached upstairs, and they knew the wooden barrier they had constructed wouldn't hold long once the mob reached them.

Mark decided to take charge. "Alright, each of us with a gun is going to be protecting those who don't. Conserve ammo and aim for the head."

"The head?" Cindy asked, alarmed. "You're going to kill them?"

"It's kill or be killed," the reporter said flippantly.

"We don't have a choice," Mark assured the waitress. "Hopefully it won't come to that though. You don't need to worry yourself about it, you and George here will be on medical detail." He glanced at the remaining two. "You got anything to offer, Jim and…?"

"Yoko. I'm good with computers," the girl offered quietly. "I don't think that will be much use though."

"Sounds pretty useful to me," the cop said, and she brightened a little. Mark turned to the subway worker.

"I don't know!" Jim cried. "I just want to get out of here!"

"Oh yeah," the reporter said scornfully. "Real handy. None of the rest of us has that."

A loud smack startled them out of their conversation , as the mob reached the makeshift barrier and began battering it. They even clawed at it with their hands like animals. They didn't have any semblance of humanity left.

"Hurry up!" The cop shouted. "Let's move! Move!"

He and the reporter led the way up the next set of stairs, followed by the medics, then Yoko and Jim supporting Bob. Mark and the handyman brought up the rear, though they had nothing to barricade the door with on this side.

The room upstairs was a huge warehouse for liquor. The others were already making their way through the next set of stairs that would lead to the roof, and Mark was about to shift some heavy barrels to block the door. The handyman had other ideas though – he grabbed a few bottles and cracked the lids, shoving pieces of newspaper into it. Mark had a sudden realisation of what the other man was doing and began to help.

It was the kind of improvised brutality he had faced in the war, only this time it would work in his favour.

By the time they'd amassed a little collection of bottles, the creatures had broken through and were pouring onto the stairs. The two men took up their molotovs, ignited them with the handyman's lighter, and then rained fire on their enemies.

The creatures moaned and writhed as they were burned up, and in only a short time the flow of bodies was slowed to a halt. Mark looked down at the empty stairway with relief, and then they barricaded the door at the top so that no more could get into the liquor room for now. Hopefully any more creatures wouldn't even know there were people up here now that their fellows were dead.

Mark turned to the other man and extended a hand. "Mark Wilkins, good to meet ya."

The younger man smiled and shook it. "David King."

Mark nodded, and they moved to catch up with the others. He had a feeling David would be a valuable ally to have, if he could be persuaded to work with a team.

When they reached the rooftop, he saw that the situation was much more dire than they'd first realised. The whole city seemed to be burning, and screams rang out from everywhere. How did a city turn into a warzone in one night? How did things go wrong so easily?

Someone with his group sounded like they were crying, but Mark didn't look to see who it was. He could barely take his eyes off the horror of the city. Where could they run to now, would the police deploy helicopters? There couldn't be enough in the city to evacuate everyone.

The military might send some, if they knew what was happening. But what if it had spread further than the city? What if the whole country was like this? Mark thought of his wife and son, and bile rose up in his throat.

"Mark…"

The strained voice of Bob finally dragged him out of his doom-laden thoughts. The other man was slumped against a wall, looking more fragile than he ever had before. Mark was at his side instantly.

"Mark… I can't hold on any longer…"

"Don't say that! We're gonna get you out of here, find proper help. You just need to stay strong and fight."

"I can't. I can… feel them, Mark. Their hunger… I feel it too."

This was exactly what George had said – towards the end, they feel intense hunger. He had a horrible feeling he knew what food they were craving.

"It can't be," Mark insisted helplessly. "I don't know what they are, but you aren't like them."

"Not yet… but I'm close… I feel so cold… so hungry… I can feel it taking my… body. My mind. It's in you too…"

His friend stretched a hand out, and Mark frowned. It was in him too? Did that mean that whatever was affecting these other people might do the same to him? Was it some airborne sickness that caused madness? There were too many questions, and no one he could ask. The doctor seemed to know almost as little as he did. What was an old soldier supposed to do without a proper chain of command?

"You have to find help… before… they're coming now…"

Bob's gaze slid to the staircase door, and a moment later thumping started up on the other side as the creatures tried to get through. The others cried out in alarm. Bob reached for Mark's gun, and Mark gripped him by the arm.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"I can't, Mark… I have to end it…"

"Bob, no…"

"Please…"

Letting go of his friend's arm was the hardest thing Mark had ever done. He knew it was a moment that would stay in his mind for the rest of his life.

He forced himself to stand up, to move on. It was something he had experience with. When he had come back from the war, he had wanted nothing more than to forget every experience there. He told himself that nothing he had learned – killing and hurting – could be of use to him in the real world. He had never anticipated that even if he left the killing behind, it could still follow him.

Perhaps no one really knew what was going on here, but he had lived through war before. The scars were still there on his skin and soul. That meant that of all of them, maybe he could survive this. Maybe he could help these people on the roof to survive, even though Bob was lost to him. Maybe he could get back to his family.

When a cop came on a megaphone ordering survivors to meet up in the street for evacuation, Mark was spurred into action.

"Everyone listen up! We've got to get down to that street, and we can't do it from where we are now. We need to get up on this platform." He pointed to the walkway that ran behind the bar's neon sign. "Then we jump to the next building and make our way down."

"Jump?!" cried Jim.

"Yes, son, jump," Mark replied firmly. The subway worker looked a bit sick, but he nodded.

The group moved out. As the fittest, the cop leapt across first so that he could help the others. Yoko jumped and nearly missed the ledge entirely, but his hand shot out and grabbed hold, pulling her up to safety. After that, it took a moment's more prompting to get Jim across, but he did it. The man just needed a little confidence.

Mark decided to go last. It seemed fitting, now that he'd assumed responsibility for these people.

He wasn't as fit as he used to be, and to his frustration had to be pulled up by the cop. Mark thanked him and then got to moving people downstairs.

There were no other survivors waiting for them on the street, only one overwhelmed police officer. The group did what they could – those with guns shot the creatures, and those without simply held back as a defensive line with their melee weapons.

The officer seemed to recognise the cop with them, Kevin. The two of them led the group down side streets, trying to evade creatures as they made for who-knew-what. Mark couldn't even ask. In the moment, you just followed your orders.

Creatures were following them, but Alyssa had the idea of releasing a fuel tanker's oil and lighting it. She stayed behind a little longer to buy them some time with her plan, and the two cops finally led them to an abandoned police truck. They piled in, the reporter joining them a moment later, looking slightly singed but no worse for wear.

The others treated the police van as though it was a sanctuary. It wasn't that way for Mark. He was waiting, he knew they were simply being transported to another battle zone. Somehow his mind couldn't process that he was technically a civilian. Even if he didn't wear the uniform anymore, he had a responsibility to fight, to protect people. These civilians… other civilians… in the truck didn't have any idea what they were in for.

Mark could hear the noises outside of screaming, gunfire, explosions. He could smell it on his skin and clothes. He could still see his friend firing that gun.

After only a few blocks, the truck stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alyssa demanded. "Get a move on!"

"I can't," the cop sighed, turning to look at them. "There's a barricade in the way."

"Then drive through it!" Jim sounded slightly hysterical.

"You have to get out here. Take whatever weapons you like from the back, but… you're on your own now."

The cop was giving up. He wasn't even going to help, just leave them here to fend for themselves. Mark felt an anger rise up like he hadn't experienced in a long time. He pushed himself to his feet and started grabbing weapons, handing them out. The shotguns went to himself and David, a 45. auto to Alyssa to replace her standard handgun. The less experienced members of the group just got handguns, since he didn't trust them with anything more heavy duty. They were more likely to hurt themselves than any enemy.

He set off down a side street, hoping to link into the main highway. There was less chance that it would have been barricaded, and more chance of finding a serviceable vehicle to get them all out of the city.

Kevin soon overtook him, deciding to play leader instead. Mark let him, though not without a pang of annoyance. They were in the middle of a disaster and this cowboy wanted to play at who has the biggest balls? Still, Mark supposed he should be grateful that at least one cop was trying to do something to help.

Huffing and sweaty already, Mark caught up to Kevin on the footbridge, where the younger man had stopped and was staring out at the highway below. With the light from the fires flickering on his face, it was difficult to make out his expression at first. Then Mark saw the horror for himself.

Corpses filled the highway – both littered on the ground, entrails spilled, and shambling along in search of prey. The only signs of life – genuine life – were a few police officers who were attempting to rig explosives.

It was worse than anything Mark had seen in the war. Humans gunning down other humans, he had thought that would be the worst thing he would ever see. But even the worst war crime he had seen was nowhere as awful as seeing people who had once been parents, doctors, cleaners, plumbers, ordinary people turned into mindless animals. Less than animals! Their only impulse was to kill and maim, no longer able to control themselves. The only mercy would be that they weren't aware of what they were doing… hopefully.

Mark didn't know what was worse – the thought that his wife and child could be trapped somewhere with those monsters… or that they could have become them.

A piercing scream below dragged him back to his senses.

"We have to help them!" Cindy yelled, hands clamped to the railing as she watched the police officers getting swarmed.

"There's no help for them now," Mark replied heavily. "But… I could finish that bomb they're working on. I was part of a demolitions crew back in 'Nam. If you can keep those unfriendlies off of me, I should be able to rig it to blow the whole street."

"Then we'll cover you," David said, readying his shotgun.

The others nodded one by one, silently agreeing to the plan. There was no way they could make it through all those creatures, but maybe if they could blow them all to hell, it would keep the group safe a little longer. It could draw the attention of evacuation teams. At the least, it would mean they could go out in a blaze of glory. Even Yoko and Jim's faces were set with grim determination, though he could see the fear shining in their eyes.

"Be careful, okay man?" Jim said nervously. Mark nodded, squeezing the younger man's shoulder.

"Let's go."

Mark took point, directing the team into position as they hit the street. Cindy and George immediately made for the one remaining cop, the doctor inspecting his wounds while Cindy provided covering fire. Both of them were surprisingly calm under the circumstances. Perhaps they were suppressing their emotion, he had seen soldiers do that before, only to let it all out later.

The corpses of the cops were laying several metres in front of Mark, viscera smeared over the abandoned bomb. He fired a few rounds from his shotgun to drop the creatures, Alyssa picking them off with headshots when they fell.

They filled the space where the creatures had been massing, averting their eyes from the cops. His team formed a ring around him as he assembled the bomb. Thankfully the cops had almost finished, he just needed to hook up the wires to activate it.

Mark began unfurling the wire so that he could detonate it from further back. "Fall back!" he ordered. He edged backwards as quickly as he could, leaving a wire trail from the bomb switch in his hands to the charges by the corpses. The group moved with him in an arc, surprisingly well co-ordinated despite their lack of combat experience.

"There's too many!" Alyssa yelled, gunning down a small mob of creatures that were staggering towards her. Beside her, Yoko was flinching with every one of her own shots, shuffling hesitantly back. Alyssa swivelled quickly to cover David's left as Jim turned and sprinted the last several metres back to George and Cindy.

Mark shot a creature coming in at Alyssa's unprotected back, with Yoko assisting. "Give us some cover back there!" He yelled at the medics. A moment later, gunshots sounded behind him, and the swell of creatures started to lessen.

"Get back, get back!" He shouted, waving them behind him as he crouched. With a quick glance back to make sure they were as far out of the blast zone as possible, he knelt, and turned the handle on the detonator.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a roaring sound in his ears, tarmac and concrete being ripped from the ground and flung into the air. The creatures were consumed by the wave of dust and fire. Mark hunched to the quaking ground, trying to protect himself from the debris as it rained back down.

As the chaos calmed down, he slowly lifted his face. The destruction was unbelievable, the entire street – and several buildings levelled. Cars were strewn all over, with bodies in careless heaps. Part of Mark felt triumphant, but he couldn't help feeling sick at what he'd done. He worked in this town, he had friends here. After the war, he'd sworn to himself that he would never see anything like that again… never do anything like that.

He jumped as a hand gave down on his shoulder.

"We did it!" cried Jim, hugging him as he stood up. The young man was beaming so widely, anyone would think they had already escaped. The others were celebrating too, though some looked more exhausted and relieved than overjoyed.

It wasn't long before the sirens reached them. It seemed strange for things as mundane as police cars and ambulances to still be running. At least that meant that perhaps people were still alive. There was talk of taking the group to an evacuation point, and from there fleeing the city.

Mark let himself cling to that thread of hope. If he could get out, he could reach his family. He could only hope that the madness hadn't spread, and wherever they were, they were waiting safely for his return.


	2. Below Freezing Point: Yoko

Below Freezing Point

…

A gunshot ricocheted off the wall next to Yoko's head, and she ducked at the last moment just in case. The others froze in their tracks, further down the hallway. Yoko moved slowly on the spot to face the shooter.

The one responsible didn't fire again though. It was a young woman in the Umbrella uniform, who seemed so familiar. "Monica?"

Yoko remembered her face, different emotions – frustrated, relieved, excited, frightened. But she couldn't recall exactly how she knew Monica.

"I didn't expect you to return," the other woman replied, gesturing carelessly with the gun. "After your little 'incident', I assumed you went and hid under a rock like the little child that you are."

She winced inwardly. How could this woman talk about her like that? She could barely even remember Monica, yet she talked as though the pair of them had some bitter history.

Yoko glanced away, briefly distracted by the others creeping along the wall, guns at the ready. She felt caught in some kind of hostage situation. Only, Monica didn't seem to realise she had a hostage. Yoko wished she could indicate the others to stop. If she researcher knew, what if she attacked?

She gestured to the capsule incubator in Monica's hand. "What is that?" A cure for whatever was affecting people in the city? Or the cause of it all?

The researcher's eyes narrowed. "Wait. Wait! Are you after this too? Oh, you are, aren't you? You are so–"

"Stop it!" Yoko cried. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"Don't play the innocent little girl with me. You can't fool me, you could _never _fool me. But... maybe we could work something out. Give me your ID card."

Yoko hesitated for a moment, before fishing it out of her pocket. Monica snatched the card out of her hands, a triumphant smirk on her face.

It only lasted a moment, as Kevin came barrelling out of the corridor, tackling Monica. The container was flung to the side, sliding along the ground. Yoko was riveted to the spot, eyes glued to the gun that Monica was trying to twist towards Kevin's face. Then she noticed Yoko.

The student darted away behind an abandoned train, just before the gunshot rang out. There was a flurry of red as Alyssa launched herself into the hall, completely ignoring the fight on the ground and making for the capsule.

Another gunshot, along with a pained grunt from Kevin. Yoko pressed her palms into her eyes, confusion and fear raging in her. Should she go help?

As she mustered up the courage, she heard Monica's shoes clattering as the researcher made her escape. Judging from the empty corridor, she had made off with the capsule and keycard too.

Alyssa was pushing herself to her feet, looking very peeved, but otherwise unhurt. Kevin was down on one knee, gasping quietly in pain.

Yoko put a tentative hand on Kevin's shoulder, feeling ashamed for letting him get hurt, but at the same time so annoyed that he didn't stay put. Monica would have just taken the card and left, wouldn't she? Why didn't he just let her go?

"What the _hell _was that?" Mark demanded, his deep voice giving the disapproval extra weight.

"I was trying to save Yoko's _life_," Kevin snapped, pressing a palm to his shoulder. A ribbon of blood seeped through his fingers. "Monica woulda shot her the moment she got what she wanted."

"Well at least her knight in shining armour was here to take the bullet," Alyssa remarked.

Kevin glanced at her. "Thanks for the back-up there, by the way," he said sarcastically.

She shrugged. "I wanted to know what was in that capsule."

"Would've been better to capture the person who knew then, wouldn't it?"

"Cindy and I wanted to help," George said, with a very pointed look at Mark and David. Yoko wondered if the pair had held them back to stop them joining the fray. That was probably the best idea – what if someone had gotten killed?

The doctor patched up Kevin's shoulder as best he could without removing the other man's body armour.

"So much for that capsule," Alyssa sighed. "That bitch will be out of here before we can ever find her. Don't suppose you know where she'd go, Yoko?"

"I... no." She shook her head, causing the reporter to sigh again.

"She sure hates you," Jim noted unhelpfully. "What did you ever do to piss her off?"

Yoko shrugged. "I don't know, I barely remember working here."

"Yet you thought this would be the best place to go?" George said, slightly sharp. He hadn't been keen on the idea from the start. It was probably because he didn't trust her after finding out she was a former Umbrella employee.

"If there's a cure, I'm sure it's here."

Kevin nodded. "Don't worry so much, Doc. There's nothing down here we can't handle."

George looked dubious at that, but didn't venture anymore complaints. Instead, the group eyed the emergency stairwell that would take them up into the main facility. There was no telling what they might find inside, but given Monica's behaviour, it was safe to say the lab wasn't unscathed.

This place made her so uncomfortable. It had been a bad idea to come here.

Her memories felt so elusive, yet she knew in her heart that the horrors she had seen were caused by Umbrella. Yoko had been in this place at some point before. Even if Monica's reaction hadn't been a giveaway, the keycard she'd had in her bag, and the uniform she had been wearing were a clear sign.

Perhaps it was Umbrella who had fragmented her memories. Things from her early life were so clear, but the past few years were a haze of images that could be real or imaginary. Yoko wondered if she knew too much about the cause of this outbreak, and that's why they had taken her memories. She didn't know. She just remembered being very frightened, and knowing she had to leave and hide her identity so she wouldn't be hurt.

This underground facility seemed like the most obvious clue to what had happened. Perhaps if they could find the cause, they could find the cure.

Yoko hadn't expected the others to support her idea. She had nervously put it to Kevin while he was alone, since he had been patient and looked after her. He latched onto the idea with surprising enthusiasm and told the others. With the exception of Jim and George, they had all thought it a good idea. She was hoping that the doctor's medical expertise would be useful in understanding what had happened.

"Where are all the workers?" Cindy asked.

"Maybe they got turned into zombies too," Jim suggested.

"Serves 'em right if they really did cause it," Alyssa said.

"Please stop calling them zombies," George said wearily. "It isn't scientifically possible for the dead to rise."

"Maybe they aren't risen dead then, isn't that the whole point of why we're here?" Alyssa argued. "If they've been infected with some kind of hallucinogenic drug or worse, we need to know how it's been distributed and what it's affecting."

A squabble broke out at the front of the group again. Yoko ignored it, deciding to take in her surroundings and see if anything triggered another memory. So far, nothing had, but it all felt eerily familiar.

The back of her neck prickled, and Yoko glanced around to see David watching her. His expression was unreadable, but it was probably hiding the thoughts the others had now. The others had started treating her strangely since she had led them here, as though they weren't sure if she could be trusted. In all honesty, she didn't even know if she could trust herself.

"You alright?" he asked softly.

"It's just strange, being here when I don't remember. What if I helped cause all this?"

"So what if you did?"

Yoko stared at him, and he shrugged. For a man in the midst of the apocalypse, he had a habit of acting like he had no cares in the world.

"You can't change what's already happened, no point beating yourself up about it."

"But all these deaths... they could be on my hands."

"Complaining won't change that."

Yoko blushed, and turned away, following the others. Maybe he was right, and it was selfish and pointless to be whining like this. She had to concentrate on doing something to fix this, to find out just what happened.

Someone shrieked. Yoko hurried to catch up with the others and saw Cindy clutching her face, the doctor's arm around her shoulders as he murmured reassurances. As she moved around the taller people in the group, she saw what had frightened Cindy so much.

It was a monster. Not one like the zombies up above. There was no way this creature had ever been human, it was too reptilian, claws like talons. The strangest part was that it was encased in ice, like some grotesque sculpture. "A Hunter," she said without thinking.

"How you know that?" Jim exclaimed.

"I remember seeing them when I was here before... experiments..." A memory flashed into her mind. "Oh god... I saw them kill."

She glanced up at the others, and saw them watching her with that look of suspicion and wariness. Even Kevin, who had been so kind to her, and David, who had just told her not to worry about her past. The only one who wasn't looking at her like that was Alyssa. The reporter was eyeing her like a bird of prey sizing up its next meal.

Yoko fixed her eyes on the ground. "I know the way to the labs. If there's information, it's probably in there."

"It would be ideal to split up," George suggested. Yoko wasn't looking at him, but she could feel the disapproval in his gaze. "I saw a map earlier that suggested there's a tram station here, I'm certain that's where Monica will be talking that capsule."

"But–" Yoko's protest died on her lips. She had wanted George's help since he would understand medicine and science better than the rest of them, but she knew they wouldn't listen to her. "I'll go to the labs then."

"We're more likely to find something useful if we cover more ground, anyhow."

"Alright," said Kevin. "I'll go with George." The doctor nodded thankfully.

"Me too!" Cindy said eagerly. She seemed to stick with Kevin and the doctor whenever she could. "Are you coming with us, Jim?" The waitress gave him an encouraging smile.

"Uhh..." he glanced at Yoko and Mark. "I wanna be in Yoko's crew, yo. She might find a cure or some shit. And she knows this place better than us."

Yoko felt a sinking feeling. Jim was the last person she wanted to have accompany her. She spent most of her time in fear, and she knew she was weaker than the others. Considering that she was already dead weight herself, the last thing she needed was extra dead weight.

She turned and set off down the corridor dejectedly.

"Wait, Yoko," called Kevin.

Yoko hesitated as he approached, a foolish part of her hoping that he had changed his mind. Alas, he handed her a gun instead. She held it in her hands like it was dynamite about to explode. "I... I don't know how to use it."

Kevin grinned. "Don't worry, it's a piece of cake. You just wrap your hands around it like this," he said, guiding her fingers to the correct places on the gun. "Stand up straight, kiddo." Kevin positioned himself behind her, looking over her shoulder to check her aim. "Lift your arms a little, nice and straight."

His breath was tickling her ear now, and Yoko felt a blush creeping up on her. Kevin moved away. "Nice. You'll need a couple extra magazines. They just go in here like this." He released the current clip from the gun and slipped it back in. She hesitatingly copied his actions until he gave a pleased nod. "Recoil shouldn't be bad, but bear it in mind, it can sneak up on ya."

"Thank you... Kevin."

He gave her a friendly slap on the back. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. See ya soon."

Yoko was so distracted watching him leave she didn't even see Alyssa sneak up on her. "Let me share some home truths," the older woman drawled. "Men are only good for one thing, and trust me when I say you ain't getting it during a zombie invasion."

She blushed. Had it been that obvious? The reporter eyed her and smirked.

"Well, let's get on with it," Alyssa said.

"Um...?"

"What, you don't think I'm going with Officer Doofus and his merry band of idiots, do you?" Alyssa chuckled. "Nope, me and that grumpy ass are on your team."

"Grumpy ass?" Yoko repeated.

"Here he comes now."

Yoko glanced over her shoulder to see David and Jim heading over. She could guess which one Alyssa was referring to. Still, she felt a little better. Now she had some fighters coming with her, she was less afraid to travel through this place.

They moved through corridors that seemed identical. There was no sign of life other than the security cameras that seemed to track their movements. Yoko wondered if Monica was watching them, but what reason could she have for that? Yoko didn't have enough recollection of her life here to know the other woman's motives.

As if she needed any more proof that she was connected to this place, her fingerprints registered on the scanner, opening doors that would otherwise remain locked. She wondered how far up her clearance went.

The icy monsters dotted every other hallway.

"Why the fuck are there so many of those freaky things here, anyway?" Jim asked as they passed their sixth one. "What the hell could you use those for?"

"Weapons," David said.

Yoko shuddered. She didn't want to imagine that she would have helped create monsters to kill people. Maybe she had thought the research was being used for something else? She was no scientist, she was just good with computers. But if she hadn't been involved with the monsters, why could she remember them? Why did it give her a sick feeling just thinking about them?

"I wonder if the government knows about this?" Alyssa said thoughtfully. "I guess they could be private suppliers for terrorist groups or something like that, but it doesn't seem likely. This whole thing stinks of a government cover up. How else would Umbrella have so much power and agency?"

"But, that won't stop them sending help, right?" Jim asked. He frowned. "Is that why we ain't seen any soldiers or evac choppers, yo?"

"Maybe they're just planning to blow us all to hell."

"All the more reason to find a way outta here," David said flatly.

Yoko was glad for the end of that conversation. She knew the government would want to do something to contain the situation if it really was only in Raccoon city, but she didn't want to imagine it was so drastic. It was bad enough to face zombies, without fearing that too.

Since the elevators were out, they were forced to use an emergency access shaft. Yoko sure felt unfit trying to climb three sets of ladders, but knowing the lab was waiting at the end helped push her onwards. She felt more anxious the closer they got, but at least she would have some answers.

The lab was just as icy as the other places they had been. Her companions set about checking the chemicals on the shelves, though she wasn't sure what they hoped to find. They probably wouldn't understand it.

All notes about experiments would surely be on the computers, so Yoko grabbed the one in the corner. She wasn't able to get very far in before it started insisting on passwords and correct clearance.

"I guess that's that then," David muttered.

"No," said Yoko. "I can get us in. Just a minute."

She was no hacker, but she did know programming, and she had a few ways that she could trick the system into letting her in. Yoko ran through them in her mind before her fingers started flying over the keyboard. It felt good to be able to do something useful for a change. And it was comforting to know that if she didn't have clearance for this top secret research, she couldn't be held responsible for the horrors that had befallen Raccoon City. Not to the same extent, anyway.

Yoko smiled as her back door into the system worked, and the computer started bringing up information on something called the 'T-Virus'.

"Nice going," Alyssa said appreciatively. "Time to air all that dirty laundry."

The four of them hunched over the computer to read.

It didn't take long to build up a picture of the truth. The Umbrella Corporation had been doing experiments into bio-engineered weapons. They had used living people as test subjects and turned them into zombies via a virus, with the intention of weaponizing this and dropping it on enemy cities in future wars.

Not only that, but they had created monsters like Hunters and Tyrants – a name than sent shudders through Yoko for some reason – to be highly efficient killing machines. The virus had the ability to adapt and mutate itself, but these creatures were something Umbrella had intended to create for a bio-war.

It had been intentional, all along.

The worst part was that the virus was highly infectious, and could be transmitted via air, water, bodily fluids. Yoko pulled up a report from one scientist who was worried that the virus could contaminate the city's water supply. Another thought that rats and birds could be carriers. It looked like they may have been right. It was disgusting to think that they had taken it into their bodies unknowingly, that they too were infected.

Yoko sat in a daze, until Alyssa reached over and took control of the computer. She pulled up a list of test subjects. Yoko's name was there, dancing in front of her eyes.

Alyssa seemed about to click on it without thinking, and then at the last moment, she turned to the younger woman. "Do you want to see?"

She took a deep breath. "I have to."

The computer brought up several files of notes, and they looked through each one. Apparently, Yoko had been selected along with several others to test the effects of the T-Virus. They were strapped to hospital beds and given periodic doses to see how long it would take to have an effect, and what effect that would be. She had been one of the longest to hold out against the hunger and madness, but she had witnessed the others succumbing. She had then witnessed the creatures in action first hand.

There was a video file. Yoko covered her mouth, watching with clenched teeth as some white-coated male scientist injected her and left the room. The Yoko on the video writhed in pain, gasping for air for several minutes. She stopped, seeming to fold in on herself, before thrashing against her bonds violently. The scientist returned and this alien Yoko became more violent, gnashing her teeth as though she wanted to bite him. Blood and spittle frothed from her mouth.

Yoko squeezed her eyes shut. "Turn it off. Please!"

David said quietly, "It's done."

Slowly, she opened her eyes. She didn't want to look at the others, and see the revulsion or pity in their eyes.

"We can't let them get away with this," Alyssa hissed, sounding angry. "We need to expose them, bring the bastards down."

"How?" Jim asked. "We're stuck here, and they've got a business empire across the whole _world. _They own _everything._"

"By the time I'm through with them, they'll own jack shit," she said vehemently. "First we need to escape the city, and then we take this all the way to the Supreme Court. I've got contacts in newspapers and news crews throughout the country. We'll tear this wide open."

Yoko opened a desk drawer and rooted around inside until she found an MO-Disk, before slipping it into the computer to save the files. "We need evidence. My testimony won't be enough alone."

Alyssa smiled at her, and she saw respect in the other woman's eyes.

"Damn," Jim murmured as Yoko slipped the disk safely into her pack. For good measure, she saved another copy for Alyssa. One way or another, the truth would get out. "What I don't get though, is if they did this shit to you before, how come you're not a zombie now? It looks like they injected you plenty of times."

"Careful where you're going with that line of thinking, pal," David said in a warning tone.

"Shit, no, I don't mean you're infected or something, Yoko," Jim said quickly. "No more than the rest of us, yo. But like, how is it you're okay now? Did they cure you?"

"I don't know," Yoko said. "Maybe this is a different strain. Or maybe it's still lurking inside of me."

"It doesn't matter," said David. "We're all infected."

"There's nothing on here about a cure," Alyssa sighed. "But they must have one, maybe at a different base. If we could find an Umbrella scientist still alive, it would help."

"Monica?" Yoko suggested. "I don't think she'd help but... maybe that's what her capsule contains."

"Worth a shot!" Jim said hopefully.

The four of them checked the computer for a blueprint of the facility so that they could locate this tram station George had mentioned. Yoko hoped the others were still safe. They figured that if Monica was trying to leave too, she would head to the same place. The quickest route seemed to be through a secondary shaft that ran through the ventilation chamber. It had various walkways leading to different areas, including the tram.

They found a shotgun near the access ladder, which Alyssa wrote off since the mechanism was jammed, but David was able to get it working again. He offered her it back, but surprisingly the reporter thought he should keep it, since he'd repaired it.

Since he had the best weapon, he was the one who went first when they entered the ventilation shaft. Yoko followed him cautiously out onto the walkway. She'd only taken a few steps when she heard a frightened squeak from Jim.

She glanced back to see a huge winged form rising into the air from a higher level of the shaft. Alyssa and Jim were inside, sheltered, but she and David were exposed out here on the walkway. Yoko felt her voice dry up in her throat as its shadow fell over her.

The creature ignored her, swooping instead towards her companion.

"David!" she cried.

He threw himself out of the way just in time, and Yoko lifted her gun to shoot it. The moth wheeled around, too fast for her to aim properly. It reared, ready to swoop down on her this time and she froze in fear.

A body slammed into her, knocking her to the ground just before she heard a whooshing noise over her head. Her saviour quickly got up, and Yoko was surprised to see Alyssa standing over her, defiantly shooting at the giant moth.

It came back around again.

"Hey, asshole, it's me you want!" David yelled. He was shooting now too.

Bullets seemed to echo through the chamber, louder than it should be for two people firing. That's when Yoko saw Kevin dashing across another walkway, firing off bullets from his 45. auto as he ran. The others were with him too, shooting at the moth with their own weapons so that it was forced to twist in the air to avoid them, unable to fix its attention on any one person.

A hand appeared in front of Yoko, and she gratefully took it, pulling herself to her feet.

"Guess if everyone's doing it..." Jim said nervously, before grabbing his own, rarely used gun.

Yoko nodded. She set her feet and straightened her back, just like Kevin had told her. She sighted the moth down the barrel of the gun and squeezed the trigger. The recoil hit her harder than he said it would, but she immediately refocused her aim and shot it again. She kept going until the whole clip had been emptied into the monster.

The moth finally tumbled down through the shaft, its wings and body riddled with holes. The T-Virus could make even innocent creatures into monstrosities, it seemed. Yoko exhaled, not realising she had been holding her breath this whole time. She could barely believe she had done that. She'd held her own in a fight, helped her comrades, defeated a monster.

Alyssa started laughing, sounding a little crazed as she wrapped an arm round Yoko's shoulder and gave her a squeeze. "Oh my god. That was insane!" She headed off to meet with the others.

"Who knew I had it in me?" Jim said, staring at his gun as though it had grown legs.

Yoko felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks," David said softly.

She smiled, giving him a simple nod in return. They waited as the others came over to join them, to tell what they had learned. Yoko could feel the weight of the MO-Disk in her pack. The others couldn't know what had happened to her, that was between those who had witnessed it in the lab. But at least now she could have some closure, and the victims wouldn't have to suffer for nothing. She had a purpose now, something she could do. The Umbrella Corporation would be brought to justice, and Yoko would see them pay.


	3. The Hive: Cindy

The Hive

...

Cindy placed her hand over George's as the pair of them crouched by the pool of blood, all that remained of Dr Hursh.

"I'm sorry," she said gently. "Was he a friend of yours?"

"We were mostly just colleagues," he said in a heavy voice. "I tried to maintain a professional working relationship with everyone here, so that it wouldn't interfere with my work. I barely even knew him..."

"Even so, I'm sorry you had to see it. Do you... think Will might have survived, if we brought him here?"

Cindy could hear the tremble in her own voice, and George must have heard it too, since he squeezed her hand gently and gave her a sympathetic look. "There was nothing that could have saved him. The attack took us all by surprise, and he suffered a fatal injury. Even if he had been on an operating table, we would have struggled to save him."

She nodded, and said with a shaky laugh, "I know, I do. I just wish I could convince myself to believe it." She cast a wistful look towards the broken window, and the groans drifting in from outside. "I suppose even if we could've brought him, that monster would have killed him."

"I wonder if that leech man's gonna eat the doctor?" Jim wondered aloud. Cindy gave him a look to hush up. Honestly, he was a very sweet guy and had been a pleasure as a customer, but he had even less tact than Alyssa sometimes. And a greater tendency to ramble.

"I had hoped to find help here," said George softly. "Instead there is only carnage and death, like everywhere else in the city."

"We can't give up hope," Cindy insisted. "We still have each other, we're still alive."

He nodded, and they looked up as Kevin's sweep of the windows brought him over.

"Be careful, you two," he said, eyeing the broken window. "That thing could still be hanging around."

"You _two_?" Jim said indignantly. "What am I, huh, chopped liver?"

"You sure smell like it," Alyssa quipped, coming through the open door. David followed her, a slight smirk on his face. He always seemed to enjoy her more scathing remarks.

Cindy had never been a fan of the plumber, even when he had been a regular at the bar. Unlike Kevin and Jim, who had always had a smile and a joke ready for her, David had been nothing but surly and rude. Every friendly gesture she had made had been rebuffed, and since the outbreak, he'd only confirmed her suspicions about his violent nature. She knew they needed the help, but it was still creepy to have someone that dangerous in the group. Who knew what he was capable of?

Mark on the other hand, had been a welcome customer. Cindy gave him a smile as he entered with the others. He had always reminded her a little of her grampa, though her actual grampa hadn't been the most tolerant person, so he probably wouldn't approve of the comparison. She had loved the old man, all the same. He was the one who had put her off a career in medicine. 'You've too soft a nature, Cindy girl', he'd said. 'You'd be the first to faint at the sight o' blood.' What would he have thought to see her using a gun to fight monsters, to be treating grievous wounds alongside a trained surgeon?

It was strange, even in this great tragedy, there was a silver lining to be found. Her knowledge could be used to help people, and she even knew a couple of things George didn't. She had been the one to extract the poison from Jim's wound after the giant wasp attacked him, and bandaged it up afterwards. George had been awfully kind about her work, and she'd fair glowed with pride afterward.

"The doctor's true to his word," Mark was saying. "He restored power to the elevator, so we can access any floor we want."

"We need a way outta here," said Kevin. "How about the roof?"

"The next building's too far away," replied Alyssa. "You think I'd be here making small talk with you if it wasn't?"

He gave her a sardonic grin. "No way you'd leave me behind, what would ya do without my manly heroics?"

Mark exchanged a look with David that suggested both of them had some thoughts on that topic. Cindy wondered why they couldn't all co-operate. Mark was a veteran, he knew all sorts of things about fighting and battle, and he was older and wiser than all of them. Kevin was a police officer, used to helping people, and had a brave, kind spirit. Surely they should be working together, but they always seemed to rub each other the wrong way.

"We should follow George's lead," Cindy suggested. "He knows the hospital better than any of us."

"Well fill us in, doc," Alyssa said. "Since we're surrounded, how the hell do we get out?"

"I believe there's a canal that runs beneath the hospital, though I have never actually visited it myself." He looked slightly embarrassed. "I think it may have been used to dispose of chemicals and expired medicines. It may be dangerous to expose ourselves to whatever contaminants are down there."

"Since we're all infected with zombie plague, what difference does it make?" David pointed out.

"You misunderstand, if this virus really has seeped into the city's water supply and infected everything, it will have infected the canal too. We could be facing a reaction between the virus and the chemicals in the water, along with whatever creatures have been affected by it."

"Leeches," said Jim. They all looked at him. "I'm putting my money on leeches, yo. Where do you think that leech man came from? Something spawned that ugly-ass bitch."

"Why are there leeches in the hospital anyway?" Alyssa asked. "What were you doing to the patients here? How much do you know about Umbrella?"

George bristled. "We had nothing to do with the outbreak in the city, I would never participate in that sort of unethical abomination. One of my colleagues was interested in alternative medicine, that's all. He kept a few in his office."

"There was a hell of a lot more than a _few_ on that leech man," Jim said.

"They must be breeding," Cindy said, a little disturbed.

"Like I said, we'll find some big monster thing spewing them out in the canal."

Jim's words hung in Cindy's mind on the way down to the basement level. She dreaded the thought of facing another monster. It was bad enough seeing people being turned into such horrid creatures, but it seemed like everything had succumbed, even animals and insects. It was strange, but as bad as facing human zombies was, having to kill a mutated version of someone's pet dog just broke her heart. She dreaded finding any child zombies.

Cindy put on a brave face and kept a firm hand on her gun. She wished she could change into something more practical.

As it happened, they weren't able to access the tunnel that apparently led to the canal, as it required a key card. George wasn't sure where it was located, so the group was forced to split into pairs to search for it. He presumed that one of the other doctors might have one.

Cindy went with Kevin, since her skill with herbs nicely complemented his ability with firearms. And if she was honest with herself, she felt safer with him than any of the others, even George. His confidence and bravery made her feel like they really could survive.

Cindy made sure to give each pair a small allowance of herbs and a bandage strip, explaining what sort of wound the herbs should be applied to and how. In honesty, she had more faith in some of them and others. Yoko and George were sure to use their portions responsibly, but Jim would probably apply all of his to a minor bruise and Mark would probably let him. The older man never seemed to want medical attention even when he needed it.

"Be careful," she said to George as she handed him some herbs. His partner was Alyssa, who was looking more than a little irritated with the set up. The doctor didn't seem to mind though.

"I'm going to keep an eye out for any medicines we may be able to use," he said. "It's not as though the hospital can use them now."

"Well, then let's get on with it!" Alyssa urged.

Cindy watched as he was whisked off, and felt a little sorry for him. The reporter could be quite demanding.

She and Kevin headed down to the nurses' station, with the idea that an access card would be kept strictly within staff quarters.

"Think maybe they used that canal for somethin' illegal?" Kevin asked. "Other than dumping chemicals I mean."

"No way, it's a hospital," Cindy said. "They wouldn't do something like that."

"I don't know. Umbrella has everyone in its pocket though, right? It makes sense that they might have an interest in the hospital too, maybe supplying them with medical records, drugs, bodies… maybe even live patients."

"Don't say that," she said, feeling queasy.

Kevin's expression softened. "I'm sorry. It just sucks not having answers, especially now we know Umbrella was responsible. I'm starting to question everything I knew about Raccoon City."

"I know, but the hospital, with all those poor defenceless sick people? It's bad enough to think they became zombies, I couldn't bear to think that the staff were responsible."

"God, I'm starting to sound like Alyssa, ain't I?"

She gave a shaky laugh. "Besides, there's no way George would've let it happen."

"You're right." He gave her shoulder a squeeze and they cleared through the nurses' station and doctors' offices. There was no keycard, and they checked all the drawers and pockets.

Some of the staff seemed to be dead, and others had become zombies. Cindy wondered if the ones that were dead would stay dead. Alyssa and Yoko had said the virus seemed capable of reanimating dead cells. In fact, it seemed to speed the victim towards death precisely so it could reanimate them as a mindless beast.

Kevin made quick work of the zombies, dropping each one with a single headshot. Cindy kept her handgun close just in case, but with his quick aim, she hadn't needed to use it yet.

Hopefully that leech man wouldn't show up. Their bullets didn't seem to have any effect on it when they had tried to stop it from taking Dr Hursh. Cindy was reminded of George's pained expression after the monster killed his colleague. She wanted to cry every time she thought of what had happened to the poor people of this city, families and loved ones being torn apart by something so cruel. She couldn't afford to feel that way, she knew she had to stay strong and stoic. How the others managed it, she didn't know.

As they searched through the locker room, Cindy was struck with an idea.

"There's some spare clothes in here!" She pulled open a locker to reveal some simple white pants and blue shirt that had belonged to one of the employees. Cindy plucked the shirt out of the locker and held it up to show Kevin.

"Very nice," he said, sounding a little bemused.

"I should change into it, don't you think?" She asked. "My uniform isn't exactly very practical for this kind of thing. I know these capris will get grubby pretty quick, but still seems more sensible than a tight skirt. I can barely run in this thing."

"Hey, if you want to, I can wait outside for you to get changed. It's no problem."

"Oh no, please don't leave!" Cindy blushed at the thought of what they would say at church, her getting undressed in front of some man she barely even knew. It seemed silly to think of that now, with everything that happened, but she couldn't help it. She had to cling to something familiar. "I just don't want to be alone in case the leech man comes back," she explained.

Kevin chuckled. "No worries, I'll just turn around. I'm the perfect gentleman, I swear."

She smiled as he turned to face the door, and quickly collected the clothing she wanted. Cindy had to resist the urge to neatly fold her own clothes as she took them off and pushed them into the locker. It was just too bad there was nothing to clean herself off with – she could feel the grime and sweat on her skin.

Cindy paused whilst buttoning her shirt, looking through the locker to see if there were any simple antiseptics like hand sanitizer or wipes. Even something small could help them keep infections from wounds.

She caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. The locker door next to hers was opening.

A desiccated hand shot out and latched onto her wrist, and Cindy shrieked. Kevin whipped round. She yanked her arm away, backing up, but only succeeded in pulling the zombie out of the locker with her.

It lunged towards her neck with its teeth, and Cindy brought up her other hand to push it away. Within a second, Kevin was with her, pulling her as far from the zombie as he could and levelling his 45. auto at its head. With one squeeze of the trigger, it was over.

The hand slackened and fell from Cindy's wrist as the creature collapsed. She gave a stifled sob and backed away. Her gun lay forgotten by her herb case.

"I forgot to use it," she said. "I didn't think, just panicked."

"Hey, hey," he said softly, wrapping an arm around her. "It's okay. I've seen rookie cops scream for their mama before even thinking of using their gun, and that's on training sessions. You're doing great, trust me."

Cindy looked down at the corpse, wearing its blood-stained nurses' outfit. "It's so hard to think that this used to be a person. Why is this happening?"

"I don't know." He took hold of her shoulders, so she had to look into his honest eyes. "But it isn't going to happen to us."

"Yes. Yes, we'll get through this." She nodded, her confidence returning. "Okay! We better look for that keycard, I want to get out of here as soon as we can."

They searched through the rest of the staff quarters in vain, before stumbling across a zombie dog in the front lobby. Kevin killed it with a couple of quick shots, but it was still horrible to see. Cindy had expected to be faced with human zombies, but animals too? All this killing was too much for her.

As they entered the adjacent corridor, Cindy placed a restraining hand on Kevin's arm. He paused, trying to hear what was making her wary. It was the sound of shuffling that suddenly stopped the moment they arrived.

She didn't think it was the leech man. Aside from the fact that the monster made wet, squelching sound when it moved. It also wasn't inclined to lay in wait for prey. They couldn't rule out ordinary zombies though. Those could be just as deadly, especially if you didn't know where they were. Her close encounter in the locker room was proof of that.

They drew their guns, the muzzle of Kevin's pointed ahead as they crept down the corridor. Cindy was straining so hard to hear the other presence, she thought she might even pull a muscle. That sure would be an embarrassing thing to happen in this kind of situation.

As Kevin poked his gun round the corner, a hand shot out and gripped him by the wrist. Kevin jerked back, then barrelled forwards and slammed the other person into the wall.

Cindy gasped as she caught sight of the strangers. "Kevin, wait!"

"You wanna get off me?" David growled.

"Alright, alright," Kevin said as the other man shook him off. "Don't get your panties all in a knot."

David shot him a glare, looking far too tense and ready for a fight.

Cindy gave a slight shiver. The plumber always gave her the creeps. The way he hung around J's Bar, never smiling or talking to anyone just unnerved her. There had also been an occasion months ago when some other shifty looking guy came in and struck up a conversation with him. It had gotten pretty heated, to the point that the other guy smashed a bottle and started brandishing it like a weapon. Jack had called the police, but he hadn't thrown out David. The owner wasn't a huge fan of kicking out regulars when he didn't have to.

Even so, the memory had stuck with Cindy. The bar wasn't usually a dangerous place, but the wrong kind of person could invite danger in.

"What the hell are you doing, waving that thing around?" David jerked his head towards the 45. auto, which Kevin still had clamped tightly in his hand.

The cop glanced at it and held his hands up innocently, sliding the gun back into its holster with a half smile. "How was I supposed to know you were creeping around here? I thought there might be something dangerous around."

"It seemed a good idea to be subtle and not attract unwanted attention." He gave Kevin a look that clearly suggested they had attracted it anyway.

"Find anything useful?" Kevin said, mostly to Yoko.

"Just zombies... and the leech man."

"Are you hurt?"

"It's not serious," Yoko replied, showing the bloody bite mark on her arm. Cindy went over to her at once, guiding the girl to a couch so that she could work.

Yoko perched on it patiently, eyeing Cindy as she applied a herb poultice with delicate hands. The student was an excellent patient, barely even flinching at the touch, and not complaining as the bandage was wound around it.

"What happened?" Cindy asked.

Yoko glanced up at David, but he had crossed his arms and clearly wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. "We were looking through the pharmacy for drugs, but everything had been picked clean. Then... the leech man, it came down through the vent... that's how it moves around so quickly. We were trapped, but David was able to lure it away and give us time to escape."

The plumber glanced at her, giving Yoko an inexplicably hard look. "Yoko found a blood pack and figured that the fucker would be attracted to the blood."

She blushed and ducked her head. "It worked. We might be able to trick it again like that if we need to."

"That's really smart," Kevin said appreciatively. "Good thing we have you along, huh, kid?"

Yoko gave him a slightly goofy smile, looking so much more like a teenage girl and not the survivor of some catastrophe. Cindy smiled too, giving the girl's hand a squeeze as she finished up binding the wound. "Could you show us where you found them? It sounds like those will be really handy! Though I hope we don't run into it again, it's just horrible to think of what it did to Hursh. I can't bear it."

Kevin moved to lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Deal with it," David said coolly. "You'll see much worse before we're done here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kevin demanded.

"Exactly what I said. Coddling her won't help her toughen up."

"Cindy's doing just fine. You know, she's been more damn useful than you have. The last thing anyone needs is you reminding them of how much the situation sucks, and it's not a bad thing to feel bad about the fact people have died. It wouldn't kill you to have a little humanity, man."

Cindy got to her feet and laid a restraining hand on Kevin's arm before he said any more. David was already looking livid. "Maybe we should go find that blood bank now? It's not a good idea to wait around in one spot."

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she heard both of the men following her and Yoko down the corridor. She made to catch up with the student, hoping to get a quiet moment out of David's earshot while they had the opportunity.

"You're welcome to come with me and Kevin, you know," Cindy said encouragingly. "I know he would be really glad to have you along."

She was pleased to see that work, as Yoko's cheeks tinged pink again. Kevin had a way of charming people and inspiring confidence. Even Alyssa, despite her acerbic attitude, seemed to have a soft spot for him. And Cindy was sure that deep down Jim and Mark felt that way too. Deep, deep down.

"I don't think David would co-operate with him very well," Yoko replied in a soft voice.

"I'm sure he would be fine on his own," Cindy replied as delicately as she could. "He seems like more of a lone wolf type, don't you think? You'd probably be much safer with us, since we're good at working as a team. Plus, Kevin's a crack shot with that gun, and I'm pretty handy with my herbs."

Yoko glanced downwards. "Me and David worked as a team before."

Cindy was actually quite surprised about that, since she had expected him to abandon any partner if it meant his own survival. She still wasn't convinced that he was worried about Yoko's safety though, just her value as a member of the group – her knowledge of Umbrella and computers.

"Has he treated you well though?" she persisted. "He doesn't seem like the easiest person to work with."

"He's not. But... he's saved my life before. And he doesn't mind me coming with him."

"It's just that... I think he's dangerous." Yoko glanced up at that, and Cindy continued. "We had trouble with him in J's Bar before, and he's always so secretive. I'm sure he's a criminal of some kind. He's sure creepy enough."

The student frowned. "He can't be any worse than a former Umbrella employee."

Cindy gasped, instantly regretting her words. "No! That's not the same at all. Everyone trusted Umbrella, thought they were just another pharmaceutical company. You were just trying to help people, that's not a bad thing." She gave a reassuring smile. "I know you're a good person."

Yoko peered at her. "How are you always so... optimistic? I'm just scared all the time."

"I'm scared too. When I stop and think about what might have happened to everyone I care about, what might happen to me or any of you, it terrifies me. It breaks my heart just thinking of all the terrible things that have happened."

"But you're always so cheerful. You never give up hope. I have no idea how I'm supposed to make it through this. Every effort I make just seems so... pointless."

Cindy gripped the other woman's hand. "It's not pointless, not while we're still alive. That's always something to cling onto, something for us to keep hopeful about! You have friends here in this group, you have a future when we escape. You have to believe that we can make it out of here. We can, I'm sure of it! Everything we've been through... it must have a reason. It won't end in this city."

"I... I'll try." Yoko gave a hesitant nod. "I'll try to believe that."

Cindy gave her a warm smile, hoping that she really would. She had seen the student staring off into space in their rare moments of peace. Yoko was so quiet, she seemed to spend all her time lost in her thoughts and worries. Maybe that was why she liked David, since he made no effort to try and pull her out of the maudlin thoughts? Cindy would just have to make an extra effort in future to keep hope alive for the others.

It was so hard, sometimes, especially when Jim or Alyssa started complaining. Or when the group fought amongst themselves. They were stronger when they worked together, but tensions ran high when everyone was so scared and nervous. If someone had to keep everyone motivated, then Cindy would do it. She would see them all escape Raccoon city and live long, happy lives.

The blood bank was tucked away in a section of the drug storage room, with trays of blood packs according to different type. Cindy wondered if it would be helpful to keep hold of a few just in case anyone ever lost too much blood and needed a transfusion. She supposed by that point it might be too late since they wouldn't have time, but even so it could come in handy.

"What's that?" Kevin hissed.

They all paused, Cindy with a couple of blood packs in hand. They felt so cold under her fingers, and she wondered if she should put one down.

Then they heard the groaning of the vents up above. The leech man was moving around up there. She glanced nervously over at the others, and David raised a finger to his lips, giving her a hard look.

The four of them stood frozen there, listening to it moving. Dull, wet thuds accompanied the leeches periodically dropping off its body. One slithered through the grate and landed on the ground with a disgusting splat.

And then the danger had passed, for now. David stamped on the fallen leech to make sure it was dead, and Cindy averted her eyes. She didn't care if he thought that was weak, she couldn't watch something get killed so casually, even if it was infected.

"Let's get out of here," Kevin said. "We still need that keycard."

She nodded, glancing at Yoko. "Are you coming too?"

The student glanced at David, who was loading himself with more blood packs and apparently oblivious. "I think I should stay and help." She gave Cindy and Kevin a small smile, seeming a little more confident than she had earlier.

Cindy and Kevin decided to head on down to the basement level to look through there. Possibly some of the maintenance staff or lab workers had access.

It was strange down here, not like a hospital anymore at all. It reminded Cindy of the underground Umbrella labs, but she hoped they wouldn't find anything similar to the Hunters.

Someone screamed.

Kevin and Cindy exchanged a glance, and simultaneously readied their guns. The sound had come from the lab to their left, and was definitely a human sound. The room was a temperature lab, similar to the one at the Umbrella facility.

Kevin booted the door open and rushed in. The leech man was inside, staggering towards Mark as he beat it back with a length of iron piping. George was behind him, trying to tend to Alyssa's profusely bleeding arm. Jim was hovering in the background, aiming his gun but too nervous of hitting his friend to take the shot.

The leech man turned to face the new arrivals as they shot it, and Mark took the opportunity to lay into it with the pipe. It writhed in pain, and some of the leeches separated from its body and moulded around the pipe, welding it to the monster until Mark was forced to let go and back up.

Alyssa started shooting too, even as George was fitting her wounded arm into a sling.

The leech man whirled around, shooting a spray of leeches into Kevin's face. He reeled back in horror, trying smack them off himself.

Cindy felt a surge of anger, and grabbed a bottle of strange liquid off a shelf. "Hey!" she shouted, flinging the bottle at the leech man. It exploded on contact, hissing as what looked like acid burned the leeches. She grabbed another bottle. "Hey, you big meanie!" The bottle smashed and burned into the leech man, and she grabbed more. "Leave!" Smash. "My!" Smash. "Friends!" Smash. "Alone!" Smash.

It was lurching towards her now, ignoring the shots from her friends. Cindy backed into the temperature lab, and it followed.

"Cindy, get out of there!" George cried.

"Turn the heat on, burn it!" she shouted, ducking out of the way as it tried to shoot leeches at her.

"Get out of there!" he repeated.

She ducked around the leech man, throwing her last bottle to stagger it before she fled. The moment the electric door squealed shut behind her, she yelled "Now!"

This time George hit the button, and a whirring sound started up on the other side of the door. Judging from the expressions of her friends, she knew what was happening. She didn't need to look through the glass for confirmation.

"That was badass!" Jim exclaimed.

Cindy giggled, shaken but exhilarated. "Is everyone okay?"

Alyssa nodded, despite her arm in its sling. George applied antiseptic to the bite marks the leeches had left on Kevin's face. "Looks like we're all alive," the cop said pleasantly. "And guess what, looks like there's a keycard on that leech man."

Cindy looked through the window at the disgusting form of the leech man. That was their chance to escape. She felt like things were coming together. The end was in sight, if only they could stay focused on it. She realised that this situation had called her to do so much more than she thought she was capable of. And she had done it, she had protected her friends and survived horrors. Perhaps there was a silver lining in that.


	4. Underbelly: Jim

Underbelly

...

The way ahead was blocked. They had made it from the sewers to the subway with barely any encounters and now they couldn't go any further.

"What the hell is it?" asked Kevin.

"A nest," David murmured.

Jim didn't want to meet whatever was capable of making a nest that looked like that. Worse still, he now knew why there had been so few zombies around the platforms – the bodies had been taken here. What looked like mucus and other goo covered the bodies and fused them to the support pillars. It even coated the train tracks, preventing them from riding to safety on the last remaining train.

"We're going to need to clear this if we want to ride the train out of here," said Mark.

"Makes sense if we split up," Alyssa added. "Someone will have to reactivate the power to get the trains going, figure out how to separate our car from the crushed car, and maybe clear this shit up. I nominate Kevin for clean-up duty."

"And I nominate Alyssa. Pretty sure you don't mind getting dirty, do ya?"

"Actually, I should probably be the one to stay," offered George, apparently taking that exchange seriously. "I need to identify the cause of death of these people and perhaps what creature could have produced such secretions."

"Thanks doc, it'll help to know what we're up against," said Kevin, slapping him on the shoulder. "I can stay and help out if you need me."

"I'm sure you boys will have a heap of fun." Alyssa gave them a sarcastic grin.

Jim really didn't like her. It wasn't like he was Kevin's number one fan either, but she was just so snarky to everyone about everything. She thought she was all that, and always talked down to others. He didn't care how fine she might look, he would rather have girls like Cindy and Yoko any day. Both of them had a heart of gold.

"I'll stay down here instead," Mark said. "I'm better off clearing these tracks than running around that tiny rat's maze you call an employee area."

"Wait," Jim cried. "We ain't really splitting up, are we? None of you ever seen horror movies? This is exactly how everyone gets killed off!"

"We can't just hang around here for hours, pinhead," snapped Alyssa. "We need to get out so the military can get us a cure."

"Alright," Kevin said, putting a little authority into his voice. Jim wasn't sure that would work, most of the group didn't like taking orders from Captain America. "I'll take Yoko and go look for a computer for her to work some magic on. That'll sort our power problem. Alyssa–"

"Me and David are going to look for something to help out with this mess," she said.

Jim wondered when that was decided, he hadn't even noticed them speak to each other since they arrived in the subway.

He wondered whether or not he should stay. Jim figured he was generally safer staying with Mark, since the big guy usually looked out for him. Apparently Jim reminded him of his son, but considering he'd also said the same of David, Jim thought the kid must have multiple personalities or something. Staying down here with the slimed up corpses wasn't appealing though, and Jim wouldn't be much help if the scary motherfucker that caused it came back.

When Kevin set off with Yoko and Cindy, Jim reluctantly joined them. The staff quarters were pretty deserted, though he was sick to see a few members of staff he recognised. Most of them were night shift, thankfully, who he didn't know.

The weird angles of the corridors meant way too many surprises.

As he was rounding a corner towards the breaker room, a zombie lunged out, and he was sick to see it was his friend Ricky, the guy's skin haggard and green. His eyes were dead as he clawed at Jim's face.

He fell over backwards, aiming wildly with his gun and shooting at the same time as the others. There was a scream as a fuel canister exploded, and Jim hunched up on the floor, trying to protect his face.

He felt hands on him, and flailed about shouting, trying to stop it from getting him, until he realised he recognised the voice.

"It's ok, you're safe now," Cindy said kindly, smoothing his hair like he was a child. She stopped as he calmed down, and began unpacking some herbs and a bandage. "You burned your arm up a little, but I have a nice paste that should help cool it down and keep it from getting infected."

He glanced up at Kevin and Yoko, who were both regarding him with a mixture of disgust and annoyance. "How about next time you try not to get us all blown up?" the cop suggested. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dipped it in the paste, before turning to Yoko. Jim felt guilty as he spotted the slight burns on her hand and forehead.

Kevin dabbed the paste onto Yoko's wounds, seemingly oblivious to the tender look she was giving him. Jim just sighed and waited for Cindy to finish patching him up. His arm felt sore and hot, but where she was applying the cream, it seemed to leech the heat out.

"Thanks girl," he said. "You're really good at that."

She shrugged, smiling. "I really love plants and nature. I took some courses on herbs and medicine a while back, and I've been tending our garden since I was a little girl."

"Hah, I live up on the sixth floor of my apartment block. Closest thing I've got to a garden is my neighbour's meth lab."

"Same here, I live in a tiny apartment." She smiled wistfully. "My folks have a big place out in the country, I go there sometimes to help tend the garden. I should take you some time, it's really lovely."

Jim raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, it'd be great if we ever get outta here alive."

"We will, we will," she said fervently. Sometimes he wondered if she was all there in the head, she seemed so convinced that everything would be fine. "All better! Try to keep it active though, you don't want the skin to get too tight when it heals."

"No chance of me taking it easy right now." He pushed himself back to his feet, eyeing the charred corpse that had been blown further down the corridor. Automatically he started walking towards it, only to stop at a jerky halt. Part of him wanted to check if it really was Ricky, but he already knew.

"Friend of yours?" asked Kevin.

"Yeah. Ricky." For a change, Jim didn't know what else to say. What were you supposed to say when the guy you'd worked shifts with for four years turned into a monster?

"I'm sorry man," the cop replied, sounding sincere. "That's got to be rough. I'd hate this to happen at the police station."

"Probably already has," Jim said distractedly. Kevin shot him an irritated look and Cindy laid a hand on the other guy's arm.

"Maybe we should keep going?"

Jim decided to lead them to the breaker room by giving Kevin directions and letting the cop go first. He dropped back to apologise to Yoko, but she ignored him. He sighed, beginning to wish he had just stayed with Mark after all. The old man and Cindy were the only ones who didn't treat him like useless baggage.

He knew he could be a coward, he couldn't help it. Who was prepared to deal with a situation like this? He wasn't like Kevin, that dude acted like a hero in a Hollywood movie. And in the movies, the white guy kills the bad guys, gets the girls and gets out alive. The black dude always dies first. Jim had seen enough movies to know this shit.

Real life was even less fair than the movies. He didn't have no special skills to get him through the situation. All the others knew how to use weapons, or treat wounds, or other practical skills like David's ability to make shit out of other shit, or Yoko's computer genius and insider knowledge of Umbrella. What did Jim have? Just his luck.

They filed into the breaker room, and Yoko went over to the large server or whatever it was on the back wall. She only glanced at it for a moment, and tried a few buttons.

"It's not working, there's no power supplied."

"Perfect," Kevin said sarcastically. "Where do we find the power room?"

"Uh, basement level, even further down than this. I've never been down there though, I only know what the maintenance guys have told me."

Jim was a lot more apprehensive about leading them downstairs – and that was saying something, since he was shitting himself just at the thought of leading them through zombie-infested crew quarters. Who knew what was down here? Maybe it was the thing that had slimed up the tunnel.

Kevin groaned as they entered the dimly lit stairwell. "I hate the dark."

"You?" Jim asked, surprised. "You're afraid of the dark? Like 'I need a night-light' afraid?"

"You can't see anything in the dark, you don't know what could happen."

"But I've seen you stare down eight-foot monsters covered in slime, and third eyes, and I don't know what else. The dark's nothing compared to that."

The cop quirked an eyebrow at him. "If I can see it, I can shoot it. In the dark I'm about as useful as you."

Jim gave him a withering look, but the jab still hurt. He knew he wasn't good for much, it's not like he needed reminding.

"The lights are still on without power," Yoko noted, staring up at the dim ceiling lights. "They must've been running on emergency power for some time now."

"So it could run out soon?" Cindy asked anxiously.

"And then we'll be running around here in the pitch black?" Jim squeaked.

"Not so funny now, huh?" Kevin asked, pressing on down the stairs.

Just great. Where was that good luck when he needed it?

Jim decided to pause and flip his coin before heading down the stairs. Heads. Seemed like a good sign. He tucked it carefully back into his pocket, straightened his cap and continued.

Judging from the sound of gunshots, they had encountered some more zombies down there. He popped his head round the door and quickly pulled back as a zombie pounced at him. It was quickly downed by a couple of Cindy's bullets.

He took a deep breath and lifted his gun, ducking into the corridor. A zombie slammed into the ground at his feet, propelled across the room by Kevin's combat boot. Jim shot it in the head before it had a chance to recover.

"Do you hear that?" Cindy asked. "Why is there running water down here, did something flood?"

"That could be why the power cut out," Kevin suggested.

He took off into the water in his typical gung-ho attitude, apparently not caring about what might be waiting under the surface. Jim was sure worried about that. And more than a little pissed off about ruining his new sneakers. These babies had seen a worse time than his gym shoes in high school.

They could barely open the door to the pump room, where all the water seemed to be gushing from.

"Looks like a burst pipe or something!" Kevin yelled over the sound of the water.

"Guess we could use a plumber, yo," Jim said.

The group exchanged a glance and took off for the staff rooms without a word. Jim felt a little salty about the whole thing. Everyone's talents seemed to be coming in handy – even the plumber's – but Jim continued to be nothing more than the team scare-baby. Worst thing was, he didn't think he could stop that. Whenever he tried to think about it, all he could see was the mental image of himself shitting his pants in the corner, waiting for it to be over. He didn't have the kind of guts the others did.

David turned out to be in the break room, putting together a weird collection of items – lighters, pesticide sprays, aerosols, alcohol bottles and newspaper.

"Looking to take up arson?" Jim asked.

"It's for the blockage," David replied simply.

Alyssa elaborated. Jim was slightly annoyed to see that she'd picked his locker open and was rooting through his stuff. "We figure the best way to get rid of all that gunk is to burn it out. This is pretty much everything we've found. Can I take this?" she asked, pulling out his deodorant and giving herself a quick spray before dumping it into a backpack.

"Wait a sec," said Kevin. "David, you're needed down in the pump room. There's some kind of burst pipe and it's short-circuited the power. We need it fixed so that Yoko can get us working again."

"Alright."

"I'll take this stuff down to Mark," Alyssa said, pushing their findings into the backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.

"I'll help," Cindy offered.

The reporter gave her an impatient nod and they set off. Meanwhile Kevin led everyone back downstairs to the B2 level. Jim really hoped they weren't going to go wading through the flood again.

David glanced down the corridor at the water and nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of it. You get to the power room." He turned to go.

Kevin nodded, but Yoko stepped forward. "Wait!"

The plumber paused.

"Please don't go on your own," she said quietly. "It's too dangerous."

"Be careful," he replied, just as soft, before sweeping down the corridor towards the pump room.

Yoko stared after him sadly for a moment, before Kevin urged her on. She really did care about them, her fellow survivors. Alyssa had suggested it was an act – a clever one – to ensure her survival by allying with the strongest in the group. Jim got the impression that it was a lot more than that though. Yoko had it in her to be cold and calculating, but she cared. She was afraid, but she stayed strong, and she'd put her life in danger to protect them. Sometimes Jim wished he was a little more like that.

The group continued to the power room, and waited until Yoko gave the word before flipping the lever to restore power. It didn't trip out again, so they assumed the pipe must have been fixed.

Yoko wanted to head down to the pump room to check if David was alright, but Kevin insisted that they press on to the breaker room.

"He's a tough guy, he'll be fine. He's probably already on his way back to the train, and we don't have time to waste."

"The water's all drained, yo," Jim added. "Looks like he's already done what he needed to."

She nodded, still looking unsettled. Jim wondered what inspired that kind of loyalty. If it was acts of suicidal heroism, then David was welcome to it.

A few more zombies attacked on the way back. There was a strange sense of urgency to it, as though they didn't think they'd get another decent meal anytime soon. Could they sense something that humans couldn't? Jim supposed it was stupid to hope that the virus had run its course and soon they'd just be corpses again.

They sealed themselves in the breaker room and Kevin barred the door handle with a length of pipe. He backed up and trained his gun on the door as Yoko set to work restoring power to the train lines.

A thumping noise started on the other side of the door. The zombies were trying to break through.

"Hurry up over there, Yoko," Jim urged nervously.

"I can't go any faster," she said in an even voice. Why did she always sound so calm? It helped though, the calm logic. Jim exhaled and nodded, readying his own gun. He didn't have much of a choice.

The lock broke, and the pounding intensified as the zombies seemed to realise that a metal pipe was all that stood between them and dinner. Kevin aimed into the gap and started shooting. A few bodies dropped on the other side, but there were more to replace them.

When the pipe snapped, the first zombie tumbled through, getting trampled as the others pressed in after it. Kevin dropped them with precise headshots, while Jim shot wildly into the crowd. He was painfully aware that they were in a small room and the only door to escape to was being flooded by zombies.

Kevin positioned himself so that they would have to get through him to get to Yoko. Jim backed up to the wall, shooting more frantically and ramming a new magazine into the gun when it ran out of bullets.

As he brought the gun back up, a zombie slammed into him, hands trying to pry his arms apart so that its gnashing teeth could find his throat. Jim screamed, struggling to twist the gun so that he could shoot it. He yelled for Kevin and Yoko, but the cop was being swarmed by zombies and she was focused on the computer.

"Done!" she cried.

"Help!" he shouted at her, as a second zombie noticed his helplessness.

She looked around in alarm, apparently not having realised how much danger they were in. Yoko shot three bullets into the zombie that was restraining him. It dropped, but the other one seized its chance and lunged. Jim felt the teeth on his throat.

A bullet slammed into its head, spraying Jim's face with congealed blood. The body crumpled onto him, finally lifeless, and he let it slide to the floor with a strangled cry.

David appeared from the doorway, helping the ragged crew finish off the last of the zombies. With four people circling the monsters, it became significantly easier.

As the last one fell, Jim gave a haggard sigh and slumped against the wall.

"You alright?" David grunted.

He nodded, feeling part relieved, part terrified and part delirious. How was a guy supposed to get through this shit without going insane? Jim couldn't understand the others. Kevin looked like he was having the time of his life, like it was some action movie. David acted like killing and surviving was just a job to take care of, making Jim think the guy must've been in the fucking mob at some point. Even Yoko was way too chill for someone who had been experimented on and was living through an apocalypse. They all thought he was a coward, and true enough he was. But he was also the only sane one around.

"You're alive!" Yoko exclaimed, regarding David with happy surprise.

"I'm not gonna be killed off by a couple of stiffs," he said. All the same, he was looking rough, covered in dirt and scrapes.

"Thanks for the help," Kevin said shortly.

Jim didn't know what his problem was. Avoiding an untimely death seemed to be a pretty good thing. "Can we just get out of here, yo? The others have to have cleared all that slime off the tracks by now!"

They didn't make it to the train.

The moment they appeared in the East gate, Cindy and Alyssa came racing up the stairwell to meet them. The reporter was looking frantic and Cindy was fighting tears.

"What is it?" Kevin asked, urgent but not harsh as he laid a hand on Cindy's arm. "What happened?"

"There's these monsters down there!" she cried. "They took George and Mark!"

"Calm down," Alyssa said, not entirely unkindly. "I'll explain it. We were burning the tracks clear when this giant bug – looked a little like a flea – burst out of nowhere. It slammed Mark against the wall and snatched up George. I think Mark was unconscious, but the doc, the bug looked like it was trying to wrap him up in the slime, like those corpses we saw."

"And you just ran away?" Kevin exclaimed. "You should be down there trying to save them!"

"And get ourselves killed?!" she fumed. "There was nothing we could do on our own, there were bugs pouring out of everywhere, and that thing is the size of a _house! _All we have are a couple of measly handguns against all of that and you want us to stage some last stand on our own?! It was all I could do just to get me and Cindy out of there alive, you ungrateful piece of–"

"Are they still alive?" David asked said urgently.

"I – I don't know," Alyssa said, deflating. She trailed off, looking a bit ashamed. Cindy made a strangled noise that sounded like a sob.

Jim felt his heart in his mouth. Every instinct to flee was screaming at him, but something kept him from doing it. Some part of him wanted to head straight down to that tunnel and kill that bug-ass motherfucker. He didn't want them to die. George was a decent guy. And Mark... it was painful to think of leaving him to die. Mark protected Jim when nobody else could stomach having him around, he gave Jim the benefit of the doubt, treated him like he was worthwhile. He'd said Jim reminded him of his son.

"We need to go save them," said Jim.

The others regarded him with a mixture of shock and disbelief, but for once, not one of them criticised his idea. Wordlessly, each of them nodded and the decision was made.

"We better get down there quick," said Alyssa.

"Hold up, I got an idea. I just need to get into the storeroom."

"Jim, we don't have time for that," Kevin said. "We've got to get to George and Mark now."

"And you wanna waste all our bullets on some giant bugs to do it? We're gonna need them later for regular zombies. Trust me, I got this."

He didn't wait to see if the others followed, but set off into the employee corridor to the storeroom. The clapping sounds of Cindy's shoes followed him, so at least one person thought he knew what he was doing. Strangely, that gave him a little boost of confidence. The whole thing was strange – him deciding to help mount a rescue for their friends. Who was this guy? Sure as hell not Jim Chapman.

The subway had always had a problem with bug infestations, whether roaches or fleas from the rats that lived in the tunnels. Though if the fleas were now inflated, where were the house-sized rats? That's what Jim wanted to know. Not that he was in any hurry to meet giant rabid rats.

To deal with the bug problem though, the subway workers kept a huge supply of bug spray, and that was exactly what Jim had come for. He opened the storeroom door to the rows of spray on the shelves and grinned at Cindy.

"This is how we're gonna deal with our little pest problem, yo."

Cindy beamed at him, and started collecting the cans, piling as many into plastic bags as she could and handing them out as others came in through the door.

"Alright," said Kevin. "Yoko, I want you to go guard that train car. Make sure none of those bugs get on board, cause we're going to need that to escape once we've gotten George and Mark back." She nodded. "Cindy, you and Jim guard the mouth of the tunnel and make sure none sneak up on us from behind. That way we should have a clear exit route back to the train. David, Alyssa, you're with me. We'll go in and get them back."

"What!" Jim exclaimed. "Hell, no! I'm not psyching myself up so I can wait around for you guys. I'm going in there!"

"You don't have to," Cindy said kindly. "No one would blame you if you guarded the tunnel entrance, that's dangerous too."

"It's not about that! I owe Mark, girl. I can't just leave him in there while everyone goes in because I'm too chicken."

Kevin was giving him an assessing look now, perhaps deciding if it was worth taking a chance on a self-confessed coward. Jim wasn't sure he would. Yoko and David were both watching with a silent, measuring look.

"For God's sake, let's just get on with it," Alyssa snapped. "I'll stick with Cindy, while you boys go show those bugs how big your balls are, huh?"

That settled it, and the group was tearing down to the platform with their new weapons. Yoko broke off first to throw herself into the train car, yanking the doors shut and prepping the engine. Then Cindy and Alyssa stopped, whirling around to shoot down the fleas that were following them. Some were the size of small dogs, but some had even grown as huge as a cow.

The tunnel was worse than they expected. George and Mark had managed to clear all the gunk and mucus from the tracks, but they were now cocooned – along with corpses – on the iron girders that supported the tunnel roof. They were close enough to be reached from the ground... but there was no way to safely reach them. Blocking their way was the biggest motherfucking flea Jim had ever seen. He'd seen apartment blocks smaller than that thing.

"Holy fuck," Kevin hissed. He looked railroaded for a second, before he got his mind together. "Alright, I'll distract it and you two get them the hell out of here!"

David didn't even waste a second before taking off for the side of the tunnel, attempting to slip past as Kevin opened fire. Jim followed, trying to keep close to the wall.

"Watch out!" Kevin yelled.

Jim ducked out of the way as a huge, spindly leg smacked down in front of him, the giant flea inching from side to side as Kevin drew closer in his fire. Jim aimed both his canisters up at the flea and sprayed.

Damn, but spraying a bug had never felt so good. The flea writhed and screeched, giving Kevin an opening to dart forward and use his own spray on it.

Jim hurried over to his friends, taking a quick look at George's bleary-eyed face, before giving Mark a slight slap on the cheek. It seemed to help bring the big guy back into consciousness, but he looked in danger of drifting off at any moment. Had they been poisoned or something?

"Don't worry, man. I'll have you out of here in no time. I hope."

He tore at the cocoon, but it was welded tight. David was using a knife on it, but Jim didn't have anything like that. He cast around for something on the ground that could help, and spotted a piece of broken glass. This was really going to suck.

Wrapped in his jacket sleeve, it still managed to cut into his hand, but it was working on the cocoon too. Jim sliced through all the remaining bindings, just as the flea emitted a piercing wail, writhing and curling up on the ground. If it wasn't for the size, it would've looked like any other bug.

"D'you hear that?" David asked sharply.

It was a train horn blaring. Was Yoko in trouble? A light bloomed at the dark end of the tunnel, just as Kevin came running towards them, yelling at them to move and bring the others. As he and David managed to drag Mark to his feet, the train car appeared out of the darkness, wheels screeching as Yoko applied the brakes. He could see her frightened face in the driver's window.

Alyssa and Cindy slammed the doors open, hauling them onto the train as quickly as possible. "It's getting pretty damn hairy in there!" the reporter yelled.

Jim collapsed into a seat next to Mark as the train took off again, building up speed quickly. He grinned as the old man started to come around, still looking a little dazed. They'd all made it out. For a little longer, they were all safe. And for once, Jim had helped make it happen.


	5. Flashback: Alyssa

Flashback

...

They were finally out of the city, but this didn't feel quite like a victory, even from inside the log cabin. The zombies didn't end with the city, they infested the forests and mountains around Racoon City too.

How was the government supposed to contain something like that? Alyssa would give her left arm to know what they were planning, what they were telling the public right now. She had the inside scoop, but part of a good story was knowing your angle. Readers had to be fed something in just the right way to get the right reaction.

Obviously people would be shocked, devastated. But what would they think was the cause – disease, natural disaster, terrorist attack? If the government was trying to cover up the truth, then what Alyssa wanted from the public was outrage and a thirst for justice. The right story could deliver that. She could ask the questions that Umbrella would be forced to answer.

Inside the cabin, a small fire was burning, giving the survivors some warmth and allowing them to eat a little hot food for a change.

There was only one bed, which Mark was sleeping in. He had refused initially, but everyone else had insisted since he was so much older. It hadn't stopped Jim from flopping onto it next to him and falling right to sleep. For such a scare-baby, he sure did doze off easily.

Cindy was curled up on the floor with her head on the doctor's shoulder, Kevin watching over them like some guardian angel from his position in a hard-backed wooden chair.

David was sat on the opposite side of the room, toying with his knife as he eyed the door.

Alyssa moved over to where Yoko was studying the photos. Indulging her curiosity while the others sat on their asses – sometimes she thought Yoko was a girl after own heart. The student was pretty mousy, but she was clever, resourceful and tenacious. That was the sort of thing Alyssa admired, especially when it was wrapped up in a delicious little mystery waiting to be solved. One day she would find out everything Yoko knew about the Umbrella Corp.

"Who do you think they are?" Yoko asked.

"Some old fart and his wife, looks like," Alyssa said. She cast an eye over the photos and noticed a common denominator – there were medical uniforms in every one. "Maybe one of the doctors kept this cabin up here. I guess it would make for some good outdoor weekends – rock climbing, caving and that sort of thing. Did you ask George if he knows him?"

She glanced over at the doctor as he engaged Kevin in quiet conversation. "No. I didn't want to bother him."

Alyssa rolled her eyes and took the photo over to him, waving it in his face and interrupting their conversation. "This guy look familiar to you?"

George frowned. He took the photo, studying it.

"Why George, Kevin, how are you guys doing?" Kevin said sarcastically. "We're great, Alyssa, how about you?"

"Give me a break, we've been living in each other's pockets the past few days. I know how you are, you know how I am. Whatever."

"I just thought you might want to have a heart-to-heart," he said with a boyish grin. "Get to know each other a little better."

She smirked. "I'm sure if I did want to get to know you better, it wouldn't be with everyone watching." Alyssa glanced back at the frowning doctor. "No dice?"

"I have seen him before, I'm sure. Come to think of it, it may have been in one of your newspaper articles. Do you remember, about the hospital in the Arklay Mountains that was being investigated for gross negligence and malpractice?"

"We sent some boys up there to look into it," Kevin added, leaning forward with an arm across his knee. "Nothing ever came of it though. The place was weird, sure, kind of like an asylum, but nobody found anything criminal."

Alyssa racked her memory, sure that this meant something to her. She could recall researching that hospital with her friend Kurt. He'd never gotten to share the story, since he'd been mauled by a bear up in the woods, or so the medical authorities said. After that, she had just sort of... dropped the story.

"Nothing to say?" Kevin asked. "That's not like you."

"Bite me," she snapped, snatching the photo from George and placing it back on the dresser.

Why was that hospital bothering her so much? Why couldn't she remember even visiting it, or the fact it was up in these mountains in the first place? She was going to give herself a headache.

Yoko laid a gentle hand on her arm. "Are you okay?"

Alyssa glanced at her, and asked quietly, "What does your amnesia feel like? How do you feel when you try to remember what Umbrella did?"

The other woman looked away, embarrassed. She didn't like trying to dredge up the memories, even though she knew she needed to. There was nothing to gain from pushing it down deep. "Frightened," she whispered. "I just feel frightened when I try to remember."

Alyssa closed her eyes, focusing on the hospital. She didn't feel frightened when she tried to remember it. She didn't really feel anything, just sick and like she didn't _want _to remember. It was like her conscious mind was clashing with her subconscious.

"The memories are just gone," Yoko continued. "It feels a little like trying to remember a dream, but I can't be sure what's real and what isn't." She peered at Alyssa in curiosity. "Did something happen to you too?"

Alyssa gave an irritable sigh. "I have no damn clue. I'm trying to remember about this hospital, and I'm just drawing a blank. I'm sure I went there at some point, I wrote a goddamn news article on it. But just a few minutes ago, I didn't even remember that."

"That sounds familiar."

That was what she was worried about – what if she was in deeper with Umbrella's story than she thought? These monsters roaming the mountains couldn't be a coincidence, and it would make sense for them to have a facility outside of the city for testing. George had claimed that his hospital had nothing to do with Umbrella, but what if the one out here had? Was that why she couldn't remember, because she had forgotten in the same way Yoko had? Alyssa hated having no answers to her questions.

The next morning proved as strange as the night before. Pale, thin light was just starting to filter through the cabin's curtains when an old man turned up. Alyssa immediately recognised him from the photos as one of the medical staff, and presumably the owner of the cabin.

He offered to lead them through the mountains, but wouldn't answer any of her questions when she asked him about the hospital. Without even waiting for an answer, he left the cabin and Alyssa made to follow.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked. "You honestly going to follow that guy?"

"Why not? He has answers and it's about time we got them."

"Answers about what?" Kevin exclaimed. "The guy's a nut! We need to find our way out of this forest and somewhere safe, not go following him."

"What if he really does want to help guide us through the forest?" Cindy asked with her usual sunny optimism.

"Yeah," Jim groused. "Help guide us to some secluded place so he can kill us and eat us. How do we know he ain't got the virus? He could be one of them. Just because most of them ain't that smart doesn't mean there aren't ones that can use their brains. Smells like a trap to me."

"He has a point," Kevin said, and the others nodded.

"Screw the lot of you then," Alyssa snapped.

She pushed past them and headed for the door, ignoring the calls to stop. There was nothing she hated more than secrets. The others might be content to ignore the truth and run off with their tails between their legs, but they didn't have that blankness sitting in their heads, teasing them.

There was something in this forest – in that hospital – that meant something to her, and that old man knew what it was.

Movement caught the corner of her eye, and she took off at a run into the forest. There were paths here from when hikers had once roamed the hills, but the murders had put a stop to that. Alyssa wasn't afraid of any murderer – she has just faced an entire city full of murderous lunatics.

Something moved just out of sight up ahead, and she followed. If this was the old man, he wasn't making it easy to follow him. She had a niggling sense that maybe the others were right about this, maybe it was a trap. That didn't mean she could stop. What kind of reporter would she be if she gave up on discovering the truth?

As she lost the old man again, she stopped for breath, glancing around at her surroundings.

She could be anywhere. All around were just trees, bushes and grass. Even the way she had come from was a tangle of unused paths and skeletal trees. A chill walked up her spine.

"Alyssa!"

She couldn't help feeling a sense of relief at that came with hearing that gravelly voice. Not that she was going to show it. Alyssa put an expression of lazy irritation on her face as she turned to regard David and Yoko.

As they neared, she noticed how annoyed the plumber seemed to be, whilst the student was looking anxious. No one else was around. Maybe they hadn't cared enough to come after her.

"What the hell was that?" David snapped. "I thought you were smarter than that, but instead you run off like an idiot."

"Am I the only one around here with a pair of balls?" she shot back. "We have a chance to find out what was happening at that hospital, and you all want to run away!"

"Who cares what they did at that fucking hospital?" he growled.

"I do! Something was happening there, something that's connected to Umbrella, I'm sure of it. We might find answers there, we might find that cure we've been looking for!"

"If they have a cure, why the hell would this forest be swarming with zombies?"

That stalled her. "What?" She had known they were moving around out here, but she hadn't actually seen any.

"We got separated from the others when the zombies attacked," Yoko explained. No wonder the woman looked so uneasy. "They weren't like the ones in Raccoon City. They seemed sort of... deformed, with plants growing out of them. That isn't anything I remember Umbrella doing."

Alyssa sighed. She wanted to find that damn hospital, but what if the others were in trouble? She wasn't sure she could live with herself if that dumbass Kevin went and got himself killed coming to find her. "Any ideas how we actually get back and find them?"

The other two looked around, realising for the first time that they were lost too. It was as though the forest itself moved around so that people lost their bearings. Considering that the zombies were apparently part plant, she supposed that wasn't too unlikely.

David glanced upwards. "I'll see if I can get a better view from up there."

He put his foot onto a knot in a thick tree and pushed himself up. With remarkable efficiency, he hauled himself up the tree, moving from branch to branch with ease. Alyssa couldn't pretend that was something that ever appealed to her. She liked her exercise to be clean and a little civilised. "The view's not bad from down here," she commented as she watched his movement from below, unable to resist teasing a little. "Don't you agree, Yoko?" The student looked determinedly in the opposite direction.

"See anything?" Alyssa asked when he'd gotten precariously high. She peered up into the tree and saw him crouched on fork in the trunk.

"There's a mist rolling in," he replied. "We're going to have a hell of a time finding anything."

"Great."

"We should go," Yoko urged. "If we wait until the mist arrives, we'll end up going round in circles until they catch us again."

David made his way down the tree quickly, and the moment he touched the ground, Alyssa set off at a jog.

She had no idea what direction she was going in, but _away_ seemed like a good idea. At least if they kept ahead of the mist they would be able to see better.

No zombies accosted them, but strange noises drifted out from the forest, especially from the fog. Every so often she thought she was catching sight of a creature moving in the trees, or maybe something stalking them. The question suddenly came to her that maybe those random murders in the mountains hadn't been the work of a psychopath. All this time she had thought the virus in the city had spread outward, but what if it had started here instead?

First, they needed to find their allies. She wasn't too worried about them – Kevin was a good shot, Mark was tough as nails, and Cindy was in her element up here in the woods. She had restocked most of her herbs and was the one to find them edible plants for last night's dinner. Even the pompous old doctor had turned out to have a lot of knowledge on the wilderness and survival skills. As for Jim, well there had to be some reason that guy was still alive.

It made sense to stick together though. As much as she didn't like to admit it, Alyssa's allies had seen her through some tight situations. And she had gotten a little attached to them.

"Fuck, is that what I think it is?" David muttered.

The decrepit roof of a building loomed over the treetops ahead. Between them and it lay a tattered rope bridge that crossed a deep gorge. Alyssa put one foot on it and bounced the bridge up and down. It swayed, making creaking noises, but it held.

She immediately made to cross.

"You're going in there?" David asked, incredulous. "The place has 'bad idea' written all over it."

"Then go," she said simply, before heading onto the bridge.

He swore a string of words that would make Cindy blush from her head to her toes, but he still followed. Whatever she had done to earn the guy's loyalty, it had stuck fast. Yoko gave a sigh that was barely audible over the river at the base of the gorge, but she followed too.

As the hospital came into full view, Alyssa was hit with an overwhelming wave of nausea. It rose up in her gut so powerfully she hunched over on her knees, hawking into the grass.

"Alyssa!" She felt a tender hand on her back as David helped her back to her feet.

"Did you remember something?" Yoko asked, quiet but intense.

"I…" She did remember. Months ago, she had come here with Kurt. A brief memory slid into her head… faces in the window as she approached, ashen and sickly. The doctor emerged from the doorway with a huge smile on his face. The whole place had felt wrong…

"I remember this place. There was something sinister going on with the patients."

"I can believe it," David muttered, glancing up at the wreck of a building. Some huge fungal plant was sprawled across one side of the hospital. "What's with the triffid?"

"That wasn't there when I came the first time."

"Maybe that's why it closed down," Yoko suggested. "Or maybe it happened afterwards, when whatever was in the hospital was left to contaminate the forest."

More and more Alyssa got the feeling that something horrible had happened here. Somehow she had forgotten it, maybe through post-traumatic stress, or more sinister means.

She steeled her nerves and headed for the rusted door at the base of the hospital.

Alyssa pushed it, and the metal squealed as it was forced open. The smell of putrefying vegetation swam out. She entered gun-first, pointing the muzzle into the grey light. The place seemed derelict but she was taking no chances. Those plant zombies could easily have spawned here, especially with that huge growth on the side of the building.

The corridors were filled with dust motes and plant spores. The walls had spidery cracks running through them, making Alyssa wonder if the building was actually structurally sound.

They made their way through the ground floor, checking the reception for any signs of patient records. Rotting cupboards and filing cabinets lined the back wall. "C'mon, there could be info in here about what was going on."

"I doubt they'd just leave that lying around," David said.

"They might if they had to abandon it in a hurry, or if they thought this place was safe." Alyssa pulled out a couple of folders and started flicking through one. "After the cops already came out here once, maybe they thought they wouldn't be investigated again." There was just information on someone with a degenerative disease who died. She cast the useless folder aside and picked up another. "Damn it, I just wish I could remember coming here!"

"It's too bad their computers are ruined," Yoko said, looking at a machine that was half covered in mildew.

"Hey, hey, look at this!" Alyssa said, spreading a couple of folders across a mouldy desk. "Notice a connection here?"

David stared at the patient files with a frown, and Yoko gasped. "'Intense appetite,'" she read, looking down the list of repeated entries.

"That sounds familiar," David said. "So their patients turned into zombies long before they did in the city... or they were testing it here."

"You remember Umbrella ever mentioning a place like this?"Alyssa asked Yoko.

"No, I–"

"YARGH!"

The three of them jumped as the door was flung open with a kick, smacking into a table on the far wall and cracking it. The blade of an axe preceded its owner into the room, and their hands shot straight for their guns.

A bulky, shirtless man in a dark cowl moved into the room. He was breathing heavily and grunting, sounding almost rabid. His head turned slightly, spotting them. The madman hefted the axe and charged.

Yoko threw herself out of his path and crawled away, whilst Alyssa dodged to the side. She brought up her gun as she moved, firing a few shots into his back. Yoko and David followed suit, emptying their guns into him. Who the hell brought an axe to a gun fight?

The madman roared, swiping his axe round in an arc. Alyssa skittered backwards to avoid it, feeling a little nervous now. They must have shot him a dozen times, why was he still moving?

David must have been wondering the same thing, because he closed in behind while the axeman was focused on Alyssa, and levelled his gun against the back of the man's head. Just before he pulled the trigger, the axeman smacked him in the gut with the butt of the axe. The axeman wheeled around to finish David as he doubled over, winded.

Alyssa leapt at him. Yoko's bullets were barely tickling him, but Alyssa could distract him to let the others get away. She punched him in the back of the head, and the axeman stumbled before he could swing. She kicked at him as he staggered to keep him off balance, and David quickly moved out of the way.

They had their guns on him again now, and the axeman howled in rage – or was it pain – as he jerked his head like some frothing dog and charged from the room.

It wasn't until the footsteps had receded that any of them decided to speak.

"Are you okay?" Yoko asked David.

"Yeah. Closer call than I'd like. Either of you notice the gunshot wounds? No blood."

Alyssa realised he was right. How could she not have noticed that crucial detail in the heat of the moment? She supposed it could be because she had never shot a person before. Watching movies wasn't the same as shooting someone in real life, and until now, it had just been zombies and mutated monsters.

"Do you think he's infected with the virus too?" she asked them. "He sure fits the zombie MO – fucking crazy and impervious to bullets. I'm sure we got him in the head at least once though, how could he possibly survive that? And what's he doing here?" She paused thoughtfully. "Maybe he's the one who caused the outbreak here. And committed the murders in the mountains!" Did that mean he was also the one who had killed Kurt? The reports said her friend had been mauled, but maybe that was to cover up the true cause of death.

"I don't care what he is," David said. "It was stupid to come here. Time we left."

"What?" Alyssa exclaimed. "But we've only just skimmed the surface on what happened here! I can't go now."

"We know enough," David snapped. "The virus got out. People died. One turned into an axe murderer. The end. There's nothing else here for us."

"There is for me! There's a great big gaping hole in my memory, and I need to know what happened to me here!"

"You think you're the only one with that problem?" He jabbed a finger at Yoko, who looked like she wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground. "You don't see us running around Umbrella labs on Yoko's whims. There's nothing to gain by staying here. Unless you want to be killed by an axe murderer?"

"You know what? Fine. If you want to run away then get the hell on with it." She exhaled angrily. "I'll do this on my own."

He narrowed his eyes at her, as though he was trying to discern her sincerity. Alyssa just stared him down, arms folded and expression haughty.

"Fine." He turned away. "Yoko, are you coming?"

The student hesitated, looking from one to the other with a troubled expression.

"You don't have to stay," Alyssa said, trying to sound as unconcerned as possible.

She tried not to betray the hurt she felt as the pair of them turned from her and left the room. A moment later, she heard the grating of the front door and she knew they had honestly abandoned her. Anger warred with pain, and she decided to smother both. The truth was more important, and she needed to discover it.

Avoiding the axeman was the priority as she explored the hospital stealthily.

It was clear the whole place was a wreck, yet she had a strange feeling of nostalgia as she moved through the corridors and hospital rooms. With each new place, she was able to build a better picture of what she had seen here.

Alyssa remembered standing in that office and listening to the doctor insisting that no suspicious activity had ever occurred at the hospital. She and Kurt had been listing off incidents and he had made excuses and covered his hide. Then, someone had screamed – a primal, wailing noise. There had been other shouts, of shock and surprise.

Her feet automatically took her from the office to the hospital room, the same one she had visited when she came here before – 201. Alyssa pushed the door open to reveal an empty room, and wandered inside in a daze.

It hadn't been empty the first time. She remembered the patient, a woman in a nightgown. The woman's skin was a horrible mottled green-grey, her face contorted in some bestial snarl. Worst was her eyes, which were completely deranged and devoid of humanity. One nurse had had her throat ripped out, whilst another had been struggling against the insane patient.

Kurt had leapt forward to help the nurse, and was able to drag the woman from her. Alyssa had pulled her away, supporting the terrified nurse as Kurt wrestled with the patient.

Her eyes involuntarily snapped to the floor by the window, where she had seen the patient overpower Kurt, and sink her teeth into his throat. That was where he had died, she remembered it now. Hospital staff had rushed in and managed to restrain the patient, but it had been too late for Kurt. Alyssa was able to flee the hospital, but by the time the police came, it had all been covered up too cleanly. Her sanity had been called into question, her position at the newspaper threatened. She had locked it all away in her mind.

Alyssa kneaded her eyes with the balls of her hands. She knew the truth now, about her own memories, if nothing else.

A shoe scuffed the tiles behind her, and Alyssa instinctively leapt to the side.

A moment later, an axe blade smashed into the ground, shattering the tiles on the floor. She fired a shot at the axeman, but it was useless. He ignored them just as he had before. Now that she looked, she realised she couldn't even see the marks of where the previous bullets had hit him. How had he healed so quickly?

Alyssa dodged out of the way as he swung again and narrowly avoided getting her head severed. The door, she just needed to get to the door and get the hell out of here.

She cried out as she ducked at the last minute and the axe embedded in the frame. Alyssa fired her gun into the axeman's face, but he kicked her with enough force to send her crashing through the doorway and slamming backwards onto the landing floor. As he wrenched his axe from the doorframe and advanced, she fired as many bullets into him as she could.

He lifted he axe.

A blur barrelled into the side of him, knocking him clear of Alyssa. The axe fell from the madman's hands as he smashed into the junk in the hall. She glanced up, seeing Yoko shooting at him from the top of the stairs, whilst David rolled clear from the tackle.

Alyssa saw the axe on the ground. Without even thinking, she snatched it up, feeling its weight in her hands. She marched forwards with determination as the axeman struggled to his feet.

She lifted the axe.

Alyssa brought it crashing down into his neck. It wedged into the muscle between neck and shoulder, and he roared in pain. The knowledge that it hurt spurred her on. She dragged the blade free, and brought it down again, the axeman crumpling. He sank to his knees as the axe came down a third time.

She continued hacking until he didn't move again.

With the axeman's lifeless body in front of her, the axe suddenly seemed heavy again. She dropped to one knee, laying it on the ground and reaching for the axeman's cowl. It was the final mystery she needed solving.

As the cowl came free, she exhaled heavily. It was the old man, the one who had offered to lead them through the woods. She had realised he worked in the hospital, but now she knew what had happened to him. The woman in the photograph she had seen seemed familiar now too, Alyssa remembered her. She had been a monster when Alyssa saw her, but there was no mistaking it.

Alyssa got to her feet, turning away from the body and looking at her rescuers for the first time. "You came back."

"Good thing we did," David grunted, but the relief was clear on his face.

"We found the others," Yoko said, tucking her gun back into her belt. "They were on the other side of the bridge, but it broke when they tried to join us."

"Guess that means I won't get to hear Kevin gloating anytime soon," Alyssa said.

"He said they had found a path back into town, we could find meet up with them." Yoko looked at her shamefaced, her hands balled up at her sides. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Alyssa didn't stop the smile that came. She and Yoko ended up beaming at each other, David eyeing them with a guarded expression. If anyone knew what it meant to have closure here, then Yoko did. With the gaps in her memories revealed, the mystery could stop eating at her and this place could be left to die.

She dropped an arm around each of their shoulders. "What do you guys say we get the hell out of here? I've had enough of hospitals to last a lifetime."


	6. Desperate Times: Kevin

**Edit: It's surprisingly difficult to write from Kevin's PoV, but hopefully I made a decent job of it!**

...

Desperate Times

...

Worst endless horror ever.

Even for Kevin, this little adventure was getting old. He felt like he had lived more in the past couple of days than he had in the past ten years of his life. He had been pushed to the brink of his abilities, lost everything he cared about, gained friendships, and learned exactly what he was capable of.

All the same, it was good to be back on familiar ground.

The team slammed the RPD's gate shut on the zombies, locking it fast and stopping them from breaking through. It was a temporary measure, but that could always be fixed later.

Inside the station, Kevin was relieved to meet up with Marvin and Rita. Just knowing other cops had survived gave him pride in the force. At least they could be counted on to try and protect civilians at a time like this. His confidence had been shaken before, when the police left his team to fend for themselves, giving up on survival. But Marvin, Rita and the other cops here had kept the fight going.

"It's good to see you alive," Marvin said, clasping his hand when they entered the main lobby. "It's been a while since anyone reported in. Most of the previous officers who made it back went straight out again to help control the violence and protect civilians. I'm glad you were able to get so many back here safely."

"I'm just happy to see a friendly face," Kevin replied with an easy grin.

"This is all very touching," Alyssa drawled, sounding anything but sincere. "But do you actually have a _plan _to get us out of here?"

"We do," Rita said, leading them to her computer and a map that had been spread across the reception desk. She efficiently led them through the plan, which involved people collecting crescent shaped pieces to unlock the secret mechanism on the statue. Now that more people had turned up, it would make that task much easier. Once the mechanism was activated, a secret passage would open, and Rita would take on the dangerous task of escaping the RPD to find the last known locations of other officers. All the rest of them would need to do is hold the fort until she could bring back up.

"I feel like we should be doing more," Kevin said. "We can't just sit on our asses while Rita does all the hard work and risks her life."

"Don't go thinking it will be too easy collecting those plates," Marvin warned. "I believe there's one in a safe in the STARS office, but other than that we have no idea where they are. Zombies keep turning up all over the station, including some strange creature I've never seen the likes of before. It can climb right up vertical walls and snatch up men with its tongue. Worst of all is the nerve gas."

"Nerve gas?"

Marvin frowned, disapproving. "Chief Irons thought it would be a good defence against the zombies. I don't know about that, but we haven't been able to deactivate it one way or another. The best we can do is follow the pattern in its release from one room to the next."

"Shit. I'll do my best, don't worry."

Marvin nodded. "You gather your people, I'll reinforce the front gate so we can hold the lobby."

Kevin headed down to the statue and addressed the team, filling them in on extra parts of the plan, including the nerve gas. "What we need to do is split up – yes Jim, split up," he said as the subway worker groaned, "and then search for the plates, that way we can cover more ground. A couple of people could go down to the cells to check on the prisoners down there and see if there's anyone still alive. If the dogs are still alive, they could be useful. Marvin also mentioned some other creature that we should take care of before we escape. And speaking of escape... I think it'd be a good idea for one of you girls to follow Rita into the tunnel so that she has a little backup when she gets out the other side. You're probably the only ones who'll fit. The last thing–"

"Are you done?" Alyssa asked. "Because I think _we're_ all done listening."

Kevin stared. "Huh?"

"You might think you're the leader, the hero, whatever," she continued. "But no one chose you. We're just all trying to get by, and you're there trying to make all our decisions like we're new recruits or something."

"And who do you think should be leader then?" Kevin asked, irritated.

"Mark," David suggested. "Alyssa. Hell, even Jim would make a better choice."

"Thanks man," Jim said sarcastically.

"And you?" Kevin said, arching a brow. "Think you'd make a better choice, David?"

"Keep it in your pants, boys," Alyssa said. "This isn't about your little pissing contest. It's about us making decisions for ourselves, starting with this crap to do with plates. If we start running all over the station when there's nerve gas and freaky creatures, we'll just end up zombie chow."

Kevin threw up his hands, feeling supremely annoyed. He had risked his life defending these people, helping them get to the police station, and this was his thanks? The whole point of the police force was to keep people safe. He had the most experience here with combat – other than Mark, who was honestly, pretty old – you'd think they'd be lining up for his advice. "Alright then, what's your big idea?"

"We could use those maps for a start," Alyssa said. "Plan out which rooms are affected by the gas and when, then make copies for everyone. We figure out where the likeliest places are for each plate and send people to search."

Mark weighed in. "Teams of two would be best, since we already know one location. If we give each team an area on the map, we can search it more thoroughly than if we just look at random. Anywhere that has a safe is a priority."

"The dogs aren't an option," Alyssa continued. "Do you remember what happened at the zoo? There's no way I want a repeat of zombiefied animals. Maybe if we could find the system that's regulating the nerve gas too, Yoko could shut it down."

She glanced at the student, who gave a tentative nod.

"I don't like it," Jim complained. "Why should we look for anything? That's the cops' job. I thought the whole point of us coming here was so they could take care of it all and we could be safe. If Kevin wants to run around doing shit then I say let him. I'll just wait here."

Cindy laid a hand on Jim's arm, giving him an encouraging smile. "But you're the best person for this kind of job! You're always finding things before the rest of us, figuring out puzzles and clues we need."

"You think so?" he asked uncertainly.

"Sure!" She beamed. "I'll bet with a little time to think about it, you'll have worked out the locations of those plates and what we need to do with them."

He grinned, apparently gaining confidence, and she led him off to study the map with Alyssa and Mark. Kevin had to hand it to her, Cindy always knew how to keep people's spirits up. In some ways, she was probably the best leader out of the bunch of them, since she was able to keep everyone motivated, and they all liked her and helped her. Well, except for David. But he was just an ass.

Kevin eyed the team as they gathered around the map and discussed their options. They went over the same things again and again, wasting time making copies of the map when they could be off looking for the plates. Every second stood around here was wasted. He tapped his foot irritably, determined to hold his tongue if his opinion wasn't wanted. It wasn't like he wanted to get in fights with the rest of them, but Alyssa, Mark and David were always looking for an opportunity to undermine him. He was a cop! Didn't that count for anything in a world gone to hell?

It was like his STARS test all over again.

"For what it's worth," George said. "I thought your idea about the prison cells was very good."

Kevin lifted his eyebrows. "Thanks man."

"Surely any extra hands willing to help us defend the station should be recruited. If nothing else, it's hardly humane to leave them in those cells at the mercy of whatever creature should happen upon them."

"Exactly!" Kevin smiled. "What d'you say we get the hell out of here? I don't need a map, I've been here a thousand times before. We can always check for those plates on the way, though I doubt there'd be any in the garage or the cells. Could maybe check the locker room though."

George nodded. "As you say. We just need to be careful of that nerve gas, I have nothing at all to help combat it. I don't suppose your armoury would keep any form of gas masks?"

"Nah. Though I'm pretty sure we don't stock nerve gas either. I've got no clue where Irons got that from."

"It's possible that some military officers provided him with some."

Kevin shrugged. He hadn't seen any soldiers around – which was pretty weird in itself. Shouldn't the army be containing something like this? How was the RPD supposed to protect people when they didn't know what was going on and had no back up? It was bad enough that Umbrella had been able to get away with this for so long without being stopped by the police, without the government letting things run wild too.

He wondered where Irons was. The guy had always seemed like a bit of a creep, definitely the weird type. It wasn't so hard to believe that he might have run off or holed up somewhere instead of doing his duty as a cop. How had he ever been made chief?

They headed outside again, since Kevin knew a shortcut to get them into the cells with minimal trouble. Marvin was outside boarding up the gates against the zombies to buy everyone a little more time. Luckily, the tall wall that ran around the RPD was already doing a good job of that. They just had to worry about the ones that were already inside.

He headed down the stairs and moved some junk that was obscuring the vent at the base of the garage. It was wide enough that even Mark could probably have crawled through.

Kevin went first to make sure there was nothing on the other side that needed killing. As it happened, there was only one regular zombie, which dropped from a headshot. The strange creature Marvin had mentioned was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay George, you're clear to come through!" He quickly checked up the garage ramp, but even without the shutter at the bottom, they wouldn't have been able to drive out because of all the abandoned vehicles and makeshift barricade. There were also more than a few zombies hanging around.

"At least there's no gas in here," George noted. "It was in the STARS office when we left the lobby, so presumably we should have a good several minutes before it starts down here."

"It's just through here," said Kevin. We could check on the dogs while we're down here. "If they haven't gotten infected, we'd be leaving a really useful weapon behind. Besides, Tony loves those dogs."

Tony was his oldest friend in the force, and the reason his tab at J's Bar was so high. Marvin had said he was in the station somewhere, so it made sense to check on the dogs for him, maybe bring them to him. It would be good to introduce him to the rest of the group. The big guy had a thing for Cindy for ages, often telling Kevin after too many drinks 'tonight's the night I ask her out!' Well, a zombie invasion was a hell of a time for a first date, but Cindy couldn't ask for a nicer guy. Except maybe the doc.

Aside from that, Kevin really wanted someone else on his side. Honest to God, he tried his best to help these people and keep them safe, but most of them fought him at every turn. George, Cindy and maybe Yoko were the only ones who seemed to trust his judgement. The rest didn't take him seriously at all, thought he was too rash and hot-headed. It was that kind of thing that led to three failed STARS applications, and it didn't sit well with him.

"Kevin, wait a moment," George said, sounding distracted.

The doctor was staring at the wall full of notes people had left to their families. Most of them were pretty depressing – letters to say goodbye to missing loved ones, or to pay respects to the dead. A few were more hopeful though, telling family members where they could meet up, saying they would see them again when they all escaped, listing evac locations. There were even a couple of prayers pinned to the wall. Kevin might have considered that himself, if he were the praying kind.

George had untacked one of the letters, and was staring at it in disbelief.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked him, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder. George handed him the note and he skimmed through it. "Who is this guy, does he work for Umbrella?"

"No... at least, I don't think so. I haven't spoken to Peter in years, though we studied together at university. I even gave some lectures to his classes at the university. Why would he want to meet me there?"

"Sounds like he knows something about what caused all this."

"That would be the T-virus, but how would Peter know about it?" George scratched his chin. "I suppose he could have encountered some Umbrella workers, or perhaps even information that someone else was using at the university. If Umbrella really does have agents everywhere then no doubt one is situated there. I wonder if Peter's using the university's labs to investigate." The doctor's eyes widened. "Perhaps he's even found something of true significance."

"Like a cure?"

"Indeed. That may be why he needs a doctor. Peter would be able to synthesise a cure, but medicine was never his speciality. Just think of what we could do if we escaped with a cure. This tragedy could be stopped without any more people falling victim to the virus."

"Then we need to finish up here ASAP." Kevin glanced at another note on the wall. "Check it out, there's also an evac point not far from the university," he said, checking the list.

They left the garage with very different emotions. The doctor was clearly the reserved type, didn't want to get his hopes up. Besides, he clearly didn't want to consider that his friend was in deep with Umbrella, who would? If there really was a cure waiting at that university though, then George became the most important person at this station. He was the only one who would know how to prepare it, administer it. Kevin felt energised at the thought of such an important goal being within reach.

"The cells are just down the hall, he said. I'll check the dogs first."

He opened the door just a crack, and a frothing muzzle immediately shot out, trying to bite him.

"Dear God!" George exclaimed.

Kevin yanked the door to, trapping the dog's neck so that it couldn't escape. He pulled out his 45. Auto and planted one bullet in its head. The dog gave a yelp that sounded reminiscent of the loyal beast it had once been, before going limp.

Now that it wasn't trying to rip his guts out, Kevin could see that this was a walking corpse. Its fur was a patchy mess over rotting skin, and it had congealed flesh where the other zombie dogs had bitten it.

"I guess these puppies aren't interested in playing fetch anymore," he remarked. Kevin felt a pang of sadness. "I better finish off the rest of them. My buddy Tony's here at the station, and I can't let him see them like this. He loved these damn dogs."

"I understand," George replied sympathetically, taking out his own handgun.

Kevin tried to catch another dog in the same trick, but none took the bait. Maybe they learned quicker than human zombies. Where were David's bombs when you needed them? He was sure that guy had a criminal record. What kind of a person knew how to make bombs and weapons out of random crap?

He burst through the door and shot the first dog that came flying at his throat. He only got it through the neck, but the force of the gun was enough to slam it back into an empty kennel.

A small pack of them came charging across the room, all rabid and blood-thirsty. Kevin was glad for back-up. Even with his expert shooting, there were too many to shoot them all before one bit him. He booted one away as it closed in and finished it with a headshot.

Kevin kicked a chair into the path of the last one, causing it stumble and giving them time to kill it.

"Perfect," he said, with a grim smile. It didn't feel especially great though. He supposed it ought to be easier, he never had any crisis of conscience with the human zombies, though he could understand why someone like Cindy did. The dogs were different. Maybe it was just because they were a link to a friend. Or maybe it's because they reminded him of what had happened to this place he loved.

"Kevin…" George said carefully. Something in his voice made Kevin a little nervous, like a doctor delivering the news of a terminal illness. He followed George's gaze to the end kennel, where a half-chewed leg was sticking out. He felt his heart swoop with realisation.

The body was so chewed up it was barely recognisable, but even so, Kevin knew who it was. There was no other son of a bitch crazy enough to come get these dogs in the middle of this kind of crisis.

A gold plate with an emerald inset glittered nearby. Tony had obviously found it, before his death.

There wasn't anything Kevin could do for him now. He stood there, at a loss, until George reached out and handed him a blanket. It wasn't anything fancy, just something they put in the dogs' beds to keep them warmer in the winter. But it was enough. Kevin took it gratefully and covered over Tony's body. Maybe he should ask Cindy to say a prayer later, she'd probably know the right kind. It wasn't the officer's send-off Tony deserved, but it was all they could give now.

"Thanks," Kevin said. He followed George out to the corridor, not really paying much attention to his surroundings.

He sighed, really wishing he had a smoke right about now. This kind of thing... he hadn't expected it. Maybe it was dumb of him, but he had thought the cops would somehow be able to survive and stop this. The idea that someone he cared about might die had barely crossed his mind.

"Once we have that cure," he said in a low voice, "we can put an end to this." The doctor nodded.

"Hey look," said a voice as a door opened. "It's dumb and dumber."

"Alyssa," he said, more curtly than intended.

"You look upset," Yoko prompted, peering at him like a wounded kitten. Alyssa narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

He smiled at them. "I'm great, check out what we just got." Kevin produced the plate that Tony had given his life for.

"Not bad, we've got one too," Alyssa said. "And a little extra something."

She gestured to Yoko, who slung the pack from her shoulder and eased a file out from the horded equipment inside. "There's something you might find interesting in here," Alyssa said. "A little something that was taken off a reporter who was arrested." She was eyeing him in that shrewd look she had when she was playing with people.

Kevin took the file, flipping it open and reading through. He didn't entirely understand what he was reading, but one thing was clear – large sums of money were being transferred from Umbrella to Chief Irons on a regular basis. He wasn't a fool, he knew exactly what that meant.

"We've been sold out by our own chief," he said, aghast.

"We were wondering how Umbrella got away with its crimes for so many years, well this is it," said Alyssa, grim satisfaction showing on her face. "This proves just how far the corruption went in this city."

An automated voice filled the room. _"__Caution. Caution. Caution."_

They quickly ducked through the door to the cells, and George pulled off his jacket, stuffing it at the bottom of the door to try and stop and wisps of yellow gas coming through.

Alyssa went straight to the person in the end cell with Yoko in tow.

"Hey, hey, hey man," cried one of the prisoners in the nearest cell. "Let us out! We don't wanna stay here and die!"

"Don't worry," George assured him. "We're going to let you out."

"Wait," Kevin said as the doctor moved to get the keys. "That guy was arrested for armed robbery. He shot a bank teller in cold blood. We've got good cops out here dying, we can't let animals like that out to cause more problems."

"Hey, I ain't gonna cause trouble! I just want to get out of here!"

"I didn't rob any banks," the other one said. "Just dealt drugs, honest! I swear I'll help if you let me out."

"We can't trust them," Kevin insisted.

George looked at him sideways, and led him away from the cells. "What's gotten into you, Kevin? I thought you were the one who wanted them free."

"I did." He ground his teeth in frustration. "I do. It's just... we're here asking for help from criminals, when we should be fighting alongside good guys like Tony. Half the cops in this city are dead, we're sending Rita alone on a dangerous mission, the Chief's released nerve gas when his own people are in the station, and he's in Umbrella's pocket. And where the hell are STARS? They're supposed to be the best of the best, and they've just left us in this mess."

George squeezed his shoulder. "Kevin, I understand, you know that."

"Yeah… the hospital…" He felt slightly guilty. The doc hadn't lost his temper when they saw what happened to the hospital, but on the other hand… "It's not the same though, they died in a tragedy at the hospital, but no one there was being bribed by Umbrella, covering up their crimes."

"I lied." George sighed, looking away. "I didn't want to consider it at the time, but in retrospect, there were fair too many strange circumstances. New medicines and drugs would appear in the pharmacy, patients would be referred for experimental treatments. There were a few occasions when concerns I raised with my superiors were hushed up and ignored. I understand your anger, I truly do. However, these men did not cause this. They are not your enemy."

"I know."

Kevin waited as George released the prisoners and let them run off, except for the guy in the end cell. Turned out he wanted to remain 'safely' behind bars. He also happened to be the one responsible for the file on Irons' corruption.

"If you get the chance to do anything with that information," Kevin told him. "Use it to expose Umbrella. They're the ones who caused all this, testing a virus on innocent people to make some kind of bio-weapon and covering it up with bribes and threats. Irons was just their puppet."

"And an asshole, according to all the evidence," Alyssa added. "We're sure as hell taking the fight to Umbrella."

The reporter in the cell nodded. "If I can, I will. Honestly, I just want to survive."

"None of us are truly safe unless Umbrella can be prevented from doing this again," George reminded him.

They decided to regroup at the lobby in case the others had found the rest of the plates. Kevin could imagine the silent gloating if Mark and David had already found one.

Once all the plates were assembled, Rita crawled through the impossibly small passage, and everyone prepared for the wait.

Marvin had acquired various guns from the armoury, as well as a few protective vests that would have been worn by STARS.

Kevin turned it down, allowing the others to put on more protection. It was strange, at one time he would have jumped at the chance to be part of STARS, even for a moment – even just to pretend. Now he realised it didn't matter. There was nothing about them as a group that made them superior, nothing about the RPD as a whole that made it respectable. They had been betrayed by their own Chief, they had just as much corruption as any other group in this city.

It was the people that made a difference – in people like Rita and Marvin and Tony, who were everything a cop should be. Image and respect didn't matter to them. They put their lives in danger to save others, and at the end of the day, that was the duty Kevin had signed up for.


	7. Decisions, Decisions: George

Decisions, Decisions

...

It was no surprise to find Peter dead. Kevin and Cindy had been so optimistic, George was tempted to let himself be swept up in the dream, but he had always suspected the reality. So many people had already been lost to this nightmare, why would Peter be any different?

What was shocking was that Peter had been murdered, shot through the head. The immediate question was why. The only reason George could think of was the cure, but who could want to destroy that? It couldn't be the infected, since they didn't have the cognitive ability to use a gun. The only ones who might have a motive were Umbrella, and it chilled him to think of their operatives stalking the little group of survivors.

It was immediately decided that they split into three teams to find the cure ingredients, though George fully intended to analyse them before they prepped the cure. Yoko had identified a lab that should be suitable. A cure would be such a precious thing, they couldn't risk escaping the city with something faulty, dooming themselves and infecting others.

Predictably, this was in part because Kevin and Alyssa butted heads over the group's direction. Alyssa was certain that as a former student of the university and employee of Umbrella, Yoko should be the one to lead them. Meanwhile Kevin nominated George, due to his relationship with Peter, knowledge of medicine and limited familiarity with the university. Therefore it was decided that Yoko would search for the V-Poison with Alyssa and Jim, while George would take Kevin and Cindy. Mark and David were left to gather the T-Blood, which sounded perhaps like the simplest task, as any of those infected with the T-Virus would presumably have the correct blood.

The P-Base was in some kind of basement lab. If not for the directions in Peter's note, George would never have suspected that a place like this existed within the university.

"What the hell is all this?" Kevin asked as they look in the machines, sinister pods and chambers, and the vast expanse of water that seemed to link into the sewer.

"This lab must have existed for Umbrella's purposes," said George. "We already know that they had control of various facilities in the city, enough to keep their endeavours quiet. Perhaps this is how they recruited workers like Yoko. Promising students eager for a job the opportunity to work for such a prestigious organisation. Students would probably have fewer suspicions too."

"I'll bet they found a few test subjects here too," Kevin said darkly. "Most students are pretty desperate for money."

George nodded. He hadn't considered that. In fact, this was the only time he had ever lacked for anything. He hadn't even changed his shirt in days.

"I never went to college," Cindy said thoughtfully as she returned from inspecting the machinery. "My family couldn't really afford the fees. Part of why I started working at J's Bar was to save up for it."

"What would you have studied?" George asked.

"Well, honestly I've always wanted to do medicine. I like helping people, and I like the idea of treating them when they're sick. That's why I took to herbalism so well."

"You'd be great at it," Kevin said warmly, and was rewarded with a smile. "Maybe when we get out of here, huh?"

George agreed. Cindy was exactly the kind of person medical staff should be – intelligent, compassionate, diligent. Perhaps if Raccoon City had more like her, there wouldn't have been so many gruesome experiments and medical abuses.

They gave the pods a wide berth, knowing that there was probably some horrific monster waiting inside. It was too much to hope that whatever was inside had died already.

It turned out to be surprisingly easy to acquire the P-Base, as there was a machine inside one of the labs with the concoction already whipped up. George decided to take a few minutes to take a look through the files so that he could make sure exactly what it was they were collecting.

"All this seem a little too simple to you guys?" Kevin asked. "Where's all the ugly bad guys that're usually trying to stop us?"

"Maybe they can't get out of the pods?" Cindy said hopefully. "Or they haven't noticed us."

"With any luck it will stay that way," George said. "I don't particularly fancy trying to clamber along those pipes again with such creatures attacking."

"Don't worry man, I'll protect you both." Kevin grinned, and the doctor felt comforted. He often felt out of his depth in this nightmare, but Kevin seemed to exude confidence and positivity. It obviously helped that he was the most athletic of them, despite not having as much experience as Mark in battle.

As they headed back out into the corridor, a smashing sound could be heard nearby. George had an awful sinking feeling that the creatures in the pods were responsible.

"I guess we shouldn't have tempted fate," Cindy said nervously.

Kevin motioned for them to get behind him, and they backed up to the wall, approaching the door slowly in single file.

He nudged the door open with his foot and entered with his gun aimed. As George slipped in last, Cindy grasped his hand and tugged him down.

The three of them crouched behind some sort of generator, from which various thick pipes were leading away. Likely some of these pipes were connected to those pods. The creatures that had broken free were toad-like in nature, and leapt surprising distances into the water.

The only way for the three of them to get back to the ladder was via the overhead pipes, the way they had come. Whatever entrance the staff had used to access this place, they had not been able to find it. Umbrella seemed notorious for its key cards and codes to prevent people from stumbling upon their experiments. A pity they hadn't been as concerned about containing the experiments themselves.

"If two of us provide covering fire, one should be able to get to the opposite side," Kevin suggested quietly. "It should probably be Cindy."

"You should take the reagent," George added, pressing the capsule into her hands.

"No!" Cindy whispered. "You're the one who knows what to do with this capsule, it should be you. I can take care of myself, you don't need to worry." She gave him a smile that seemed a little too forced.

"Cindy–"

"Please. This reagent is the most important thing we have. It doesn't matter if I get to safety if there's no cure to stop me turning into a zombie later."

George gave a reluctant nod, and tucked the capsule into his jacket pocket.

"Alright," said Kevin. "George, you try and get across, and we'll be shooting those frogs down from this side. On three." They readied their guns, edging into position whilst they could still use stealth. "One. Two. Three!"

They launched into action. Bullets rang out as George jumped up and grasped the pipe above him, moving one hand after the other to laboriously pull himself across the expanse of water. It didn't take long for his muscles to start burning, the tension of having to drag his body across not once, but twice in such a short space of time.

George forced himself to ignore the sound and continue. The bullets were still firing in rapid succession.

He cricked his neck to get a glimpse of the opposite platform. One of the creatures stood there, its talons brushing the floor as it awaited him. The predatory intelligence these monsters exhibited frightened him more than anything else. No wonder their cousins had been called 'Hunters'. It was truly humbling to rank lower on the food chain after all.

A moment later, there was a heavy thud as a bullet from Kevin's powerful gun took it in the head. Cindy shrieked.

George instinctively tried to twist on the pipe so that he could see if she was okay. It was foolish, what could he do to help from here? But he couldn't help it. He lost his grip, struggling with only one hand fastened around the pipe whilst the other flailed for purchase.

The creatures seemed to sense his fear, and one of them leaped out of the water, its talons ripping into his blazer. The extra weight was too much, and George felt himself slipping.

Kevin and Cindy came through, and the creature toppled into the water under a storm of precise gunshots. George managed to fasten his other hand around the pipe and made the last few painful metres to the opposite platform. He dropped down, arms painful as his muscles protested.

George ignored it and reached for his gun so that Cindy could make her way across. She was looking more anxious about this than staying behind to offer covering fire.

More creatures seemed to be coming from somewhere – likely the water, since the tunnels were connected to the sewers. Given Umbrella's penchant for underground bases, he shouldn't be surprised if every monstrous being they had ever spawned had poured into the sewers by now.

He focused on shooting them down before they could hurt Cindy. Though he wasn't as good a shot as Kevin and aiming was difficult when his arms felt so tired, he was good enough to keep them at bay.

Another leapt out of the water to try and latch onto her the same way they had George, and she kicked out at it in a futile attempt to keep it away. Kevin and George shot it down before it could do any harm.

George got as close as he could to the platform edge as Cindy drew closer. In case she should fall, he wanted to be within reach to try and grab her. She dropped onto the platform a moment later.

"Just like playing on the monkey bars as a kid," she said with a breathy laugh. Her face fell in an instant. "The reagent!"

George looked down to see that his jacket pocket had been ripped clear. The reagent capsule must have fallen into the water when the creature attacked him on the crossing. That little capsule was vital to creating the cure, without out it the survivors were doomed to turn into monsters. The virus would spread, and Umbrella's folly would see many more innocents die.

"Look alive, you two!" Kevin shouted as he gunned down a nearby creature.

"Kevin!" George yelled. "We have to go back! The reagent fell into the water with the monsters!"

The cop looked shocked for only a moment. He glanced at the murky water, and then fixed on George's gaze. The doctor's heart sank.

"Cover me!" Kevin ordered, and then he dived into the water.

Cindy screamed, and George yelled for him to stop, but the cop had already disappeared below the surface. All they could do was shoot the frenzied monsters that were rushing to return to the water. The more they took out, the fewer could reach Kevin.

As each second stretched on, George feared that the cop wouldn't return, and they would lose a friend as well as their hope for a cure. How long could a person hold their breath for? Even such a simple fact seemed elusive in his panic.

"Over there!" Cindy cried, shooting into the tunnel were the water was churning.

The creatures must have realised a human had entered their waters, because they were pouring in at a faster rate now.

A hand burst out of the water in front of them, trying to claw at the platform. George dropped to his knees and grasped the hand in his own, heaving Kevin out of the water. Cindy provided covering fire as George pulled him up, the creatures clamped onto him falling back into the water under gunfire.

The moment Kevin was onto the platform, Cindy helped him over to the ladders. She went up first, and then George paused from shooting to help boost the wounded cop up. He hauled himself up the ladders and was pulled out by Cindy once he was close enough to the top. She ducked her hand through the manhole to provide a little covering fire as George ascended.

The moment he was through, they slammed the manhole cover in place, pushing an abandoned car over the top. Cindy sagged against it panting, for only a moment. Then she fixed Kevin with a furious look.

"Are you crazy!" she cried. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

Kevin gave her a lopsided grin and produced the reagent capsule from his pocket. "It worked though."

She made a noise halfway between a laugh and a sob, and flung her arms around him, squeezing the cop tight.

"Hey, hey, easy on the ribs!" he said with a wince.

She backed off, looking at him anxiously. "Does it hurt badly?"

"Only when I breathe."

"Sit down a moment," George advised. As Kevin gingerly lowered himself onto the ground, the doctor felt for broken bones and twisted limbs. "Cindy's right, that was an insane stunt you just performed." He sighed. "Thank you."

Kevin shrugged, his grin slipping into a grimace. "All in a day's work, doc. We need this cure. I just hope the others haven't been slacking off."

"You have couple of fractured ribs," George told him. He fished some painkillers out of his medical kit for Kevin to take. Fortunately the damage didn't seem too bad, so hopefully once they escaped the city, Kevin's ribs would be able to heal naturally.

George helped him to his feet, and the three of them crossed the courtyard to the university. Bodies littered the courtyard, which was no great surprise. Everywhere in the city seemed to have been transformed into an open grave. It wouldn't be long until these ones rose, he imagined. The main difference was the strange military uniforms. Had the government sent in soldiers after all? They didn't look like US army soldiers. The only other possibility was that they were the Umbrella operatives George feared running into. If they were all dead, where was the monster that had killed them?

They collected extra weapons from the bodies – assault rifles and shotguns mostly. He and Cindy didn't know how to use them, but Kevin did and he could show them. Besides, there was a good chance some of the others would have more experience. Every advantage was needed.

Once they were back in the university, there wasn't a moment to catch their breath.

Mark came charging through a door up ahead, whilst David slammed it shut behind him. Both men were soaked in sweat and looking frazzled. From a glance George didn't think they had sustained injuries, though Mark's jacket was soaked with blood.

"Get to the elevator!" he commanded. "Move!"

Cindy immediately went for the door to the hall, and George followed, steering Kevin. From the looks of it, now wasn't the time for the young cop and the old veteran to be butting heads over leadership.

George was halfway across the hall when a crash filled the room. He spun and slammed into the ground as he tried to avoid flying debris. A huge hole had been smashed through the wall, with bits of brick and plaster sprayed everywhere.

Through the hole stepped a towering creature, almost human, but with leathery pure black skin. Its long arms ended in talons that could skewer a man, and George's mind revisited the courtyard with the dead soldiers.

Mark and David weren't even attempting to fight it, instead they were tearing across the hallway before the creature could target them. George scrambled to his feet and headed for the elevator passage.

He made it into the elevator, where Kevin and Cindy were waiting, the waitress poised to shut the doors. Mark rushed in a moment later.

The monster was hot on David's heels, and much faster than him. It slammed the heel of its huge hand into his back, and the man was flung down the corridor towards the elevator. Mark and George dashed out and dragged him in, with Cindy thumping the button to close the doors.

The doors pinged and closed, but a second later the metal buckled as a huge hand punched into it.

The elevator was rising though, despite the horrible grating sound from somewhere below.

"I think it's trying to stop the elevator!" Kevin exclaimed.

"We're almost there!" said Cindy, eyes fixed on the buttons as each floor lit up.

Just as light went off 2F, the elevator gave a horrible lurch. The grinding sound was worse, and George wondered if it was doing something with the winch to stop them getting any higher. Would it try to tear the whole elevator down?

"Help me get the doors," Mark said, and George immediately moved over to assist. He may not be as strong as Kevin, but he didn't want the cop injuring himself further.

Together they prized the doors open, as Cindy clambered through the narrow gap to 3F. Mark was the last to try, struggling due to his heavy build. They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him in, moments before the elevator gave an almighty screech and fell free.

George darted over to the elevator shaft, watching as it plummeted and smacked into the monster, taking it with it as the elevator fell all the way down to the basement levels.

"Oh God," Cindy gasped. "Please make the others be safe."

Mark bowed his head grimly.

"Don't worry, Cindy," Kevin said. "They'll have gotten here ages ago. You know what Alyssa's like, everything a competition. She's probably through there with Yoko and Jim right now, waiting to gloat about it."

"Are you hurt?" George asked David, since the man had been thrown a good several metres by a monster. The plumber just shrugged him off, so George decided not to press the issue. Instead he checked on Mark.

"Don't worry, it's not my blood," the veteran said, with a glance at his bloodied jacket. "We got the T-Blood component off that big bastard down there, it just got a little messier than I anticipated."

"Sounds fun!" Kevin said with a grin.

"It wasn't," Mark replied, giving him a flat look.

"We had better check if the others have arrived," George suggested. "If they have, then hopefully we are now in possession of all three reagents."

They moved through the corridors and adjoining labs until they reached the one Yoko had recommended for mixing the cure.

Thankfully, they heard voices before they even entered. The moment the door opened, Jim was on them, hugging people and laughing. He and Cindy danced around in a little celebratory circle.

"If you've finished, Yoko needs some medical assistance," Alyssa pointed out scathingly.

George and Cindy immediately went to her, but since she was suffering from a poison they had seen earlier – transmitted via giant wasps – Cindy took charge. Her herbal mixtures were excellent when applied to such wounds, forcing the body to purge the venom.

"I take it from all that noise that you've got the reagents?" Alyssa asked.

"T-Blood and P-Base, all accounted for," said Kevin.

"What the hell was that thing?" Mark wondered.

"A Tyrant," Yoko said quietly. "The best killing machine Umbrella has made. I remember... they were experimenting to create them while I was at Umbrella. I was part of it..." She shuddered, and Cindy put an arm round the girl.

George eyed her apprehensively. Sometimes he wasn't quite sure whether he could trust her or not. She was only young, but she was also a former employee of Umbrella and certainly hadn't told them all the full details of her experience with the corporation.

He took the different reagents and created small samples for microscope slides. While he tried to get a good idea of what he was dealing with from these meagre university tools, the others settled around the lab, treating more minor wounds and resting aching bodies.

After a short while, he loaded each reagent into the machine and set it. In about five minutes, they should have their first sample of the cure. He could hardly believe it. They still had to escape the city without being killed, but knowing that they would never turn into monsters was such a huge relief. He was ashamed that the relief outweighed his concern about stopping the infection spreading elsewhere. That was the primary point of the cure of course, to stop another Raccoon City from happening, but he couldn't help how happy he felt for himself and his friends.

"I hope lots of other people have escaped," Cindy said, leaning against the table next to him as he watched the capsules whirring in the machine. "That way we can save a lot more people."

"I hope so too."

"Is your family here?" she asked softly.

"Only my ex-wife." He gave a humourless laugh. "I imagine the zombies are more afraid of her than she is of them. She's not the most pleasant woman. Or perhaps was. I imagine she might be dead now." George winced. "I feel... I feel foolish for being worried about her."

Cindy smiled, squeezing his hand. "That's not foolish at all. No matter what's happened between you, you loved her once, right? It's only natural to be worried."

"I doubt she would feel the same." He shook his head. "And yourself, do you have any family here?"

"No, thankfully. Just friends, co-workers, all the ordinary people I used to see every day." She gazed at the cure being created, though she didn't seem to be truly seeing it.

Here he had been thinking about his own safety, whilst she mourned the loss of those who wouldn't benefit from the cure, and hoped for those who might. Part of him wished he was ten years younger. She was the sort of kind, intelligent woman he had always admired.

The machine came to a halt.

"Is it finished?" Kevin asked.

"No," George replied with a frown. It was supposed to run for another twenty seconds, no more, no less. He checked the machine with a sinking feeling. "The power's been cut."

"Want to guess if the culprit's through the electronically locked door?" Alyssa asked. She tried the handle, and it opened without problem. Previously it had been sealed shut.

Someone was herding them. Half the group decided to stay with the cure to keep it safe, whilst the other half – Alyssa, George, Yoko and Kevin – decided to find out who was responsible. They didn't want anyone tricking them into leaving the cure unguarded only to have it stolen or destroyed at the last moment. George only hoped the Tyrant wasn't somehow responsible.

They moved through an autopsy room that contained at least two dead bodies on gurneys. George had a horrible feeling that they were not there for any benign reason.

The one responsible was waiting through the next room, stood in front of his desk like a lecturer about to take a class. George was sure he even recognised the man from the university premises before.

Hearing him talk, it was clear that the man was insane. He was the one responsible for unleashing this Tyrant upon them, and undoubtedly was an Umbrella scientist. Their insidious presence reached everywhere.

"Were you also the one who murdered Peter Jenkins?" George demanded.

The scientist smiled indulgently. "Ah, Peter. He was a very useful tool in helping me develop Daylight – the cure you are so eagerly anticipating – but like all tools there came a time when he had to be discarded. I needed his mind, but he was becoming too suspicious. I couldn't risk him running off with that cure."

"Did you unleash your monster on him, or did you at least have the nerve to murder him yourself?"

"I did it myself of course. If it helps, I took no pleasure in killing him. The man was a genius. It is simply standard procedure for Umbrella to tie up such loose ends. I'm sure you understand that, don't you, Yoko?"

The girl gasped, staring at him uncertainly.

"How do you know Yoko?" Alyssa asked, fingers on her gun.

"We go back, what is it, two years now? Oh, I suppose you may not remember that. After all, what happened was so–" he smiled "–traumatic, I imagine you'd want to erase it from your memory."

"You're one of them," she whispered. "You're one of the ones who experimented on me. Greg... that's your name."

Kevin drew his gun, and Alyssa had hers aimed a moment later.

"Don't feel so ashamed, Yoko," Greg said, seeming disturbingly relaxed for a man with two guns trained on his head. "Your participation was invaluable towards our refinement of the T-Virus. Without you, and those who were slightly less resilient in the experiments, I wouldn't have been able to create the masterpiece you have witnessed today."

"You call that a masterpiece?" Kevin said. "Are you completely fucking insane? You can't control that, it'll kill you as easily as it would us."

"Thanatos is a _god,_" Greg breathed. "You should be in thrall of it."

There was a quiet pop, and blood spurted out of the bottom of his head. The life was gone from his eyes in an instant. George glanced at Kevin and Alyssa, but they looked as perplexed as him.

Someone was running away on the metal supports above their heads, someone in military similar to the bodies they had seen outside. It seemed Greg hadn't been wrong about Umbrella clearing up loose ends.

"Oh fuck," Kevin exclaimed, eyeing the underside of the walkway. "He's set charges. This whole place is going to blow in 10 minutes, max."

Yoko darted over the computers arrayed on Greg's desk. "Okay, I've released all the locks on the premises... and started up the reagent incubator."

The four of them wasted no time in racing back to the lab, leaving Greg's dead body with as little ceremony as he had given Peter.

Alyssa quickly filled the others in on the situation as George prepped the first dose of the cure. The machine would need time to synthesise enough for all of them, but if he could administer the cure to one person and give them a second vial to take safely out of the city, it would be enough.

"Cindy, give me your arm," George instructed. He injected her with the cure.

"I don't feel any different yet," she said.

"You've been cured," he assured her, before retrieving a second sample from the machine and pressing the vial into her hands. "You need to take this with you, they'll need it to generate enough for everyone to be safe."

"What do you mean?" she asked as he beckoned Yoko for an injection. "Aren't you coming too?"

"Yes, as soon as I can. This entire building is likely rigged to explode though, and there is no one I trust more with the safety of this vial."

He administered the cure to Alyssa. "Cindy, will you do it?"

Her brows scrunched up, but she nodded. "I'll see you soon."

The evacuation began, and the three women took off. They were the first to be cured, but with that tiny vial in Cindy's possession, they hopefully wouldn't be the last.

George injected Jim next, and then Kevin. "Go on," Mark urged as Jim dithered, his self-preservation instinct warring with his feelings for the veteran. "Get yourself to safety."

Jim nodded, heading for the door. "That means you too, Kevin," George added as he prepped David's injection. "You've already had your turn at being a foolish hero today."

The cop grinned. "If you're not out in that courtyard in two minutes, I'm coming back and hauling your ass out myself."

He left a moment later, followed by David. George administered Mark's dose. The veteran didn't move.

"Go, I'll follow shortly."

Then George was alone. He injected himself with the cure. As Cindy had said, he felt no different, but he was positive this had worked. What little analysis he had been able to do suggested so. Even if it hadn't, he refused to believe that his friend had died for nothing.

His palms were slick with sweat as he took the final sample from the machine, a second vial in case the worst should happen to Cindy's. George didn't wait a moment longer.

He tore back to Greg's office, through a door to a side passage. None of the surroundings registered as he raced through them. It was all a blur, all he was aware of was his racing heart and the burn as he pushed his body to its limit. The only thing he could think of was to escape. He wouldn't be cured only to die here.

Ladders separated him from the floor below, and he jumped down, landing painfully on his ankle. No time to think about it now. No time.

George sprinted down the final corridor. The doors were wide open.

He burst out onto the courtyard, momentum carrying him forward to where eight other survivors were catching their breath. Behind him, the university exploded, taking its horrors and its secrets with it. None of it would matter soon. He could hear the sound of helicopter blades whipping the air, and nothing had ever sounded so beautiful. They would escape this hell, and bring salvation to everyone Umbrella had threatened. This horror would never happen again.


	8. End of the Road: David

A/N: This is the last chapter, and it's _reaaally_ long, but so much happens in this scenario, I wasn't sure how to cut it down. It's not a continuation of Decisions, Decisions. More like an alternate ending, same as with the game. Thank you for reading! :)

...

End of the Road

...

This was the second Umbrella facility David had entered in the past week. It was also the second he had been trapped inside. He didn't enjoy repeating himself.

He had serious reservations about helping these Umbrella scientists. It was one thing to save a person's life, it was another thing to commit to a plan and throw your lot in with them.

Every so often he found himself contemplating how long he had stayed with this group for. Perhaps he would have escaped sooner alone. Or perhaps he would be dead. Questions were pointless, but they stayed in his mind anyway.

David did not like scientists. Neither Linda nor Carter seemed repentant about the nightmare their organisation had caused. Scientists like them didn't see normal people _as _people. That was how their consciences let them get away with experimenting on humans, and creating something like the T-Virus.

The only reason the survivors were working with them now was for the cure Linda had promised.

"There's Hunters all over the place," she sighed, glancing up from her computer. "Carter's gone to take care of that little problem, but he'll probably need some help. I also need someone to retrieve the cure capsule."

"You don't have it with you?" Alyssa asked.

"Carter was just finishing up working on it in the lab when I went to arrange our transport out of here. We thought we'd have more time to collect our things."

"I'll go get your cure," Kevin volunteered. "Someone else can be on babysitting duty." He gave David a pointed look, which the plumber didn't respond to. He didn't much give a shit what the cop did, so long as he did it nowhere nearby.

"I'm sure Linda needs some help with something, right, beautiful?" Jim asked hopefully.

She glanced at the younger man in amusement. "If you want to make yourself useful, you could fetch me the files on P-Base and V-Poison so I can check a couple of things."

"Uh, are those... somewhere dangerous?" he asked.

"They're in that filing cabinet," she replied, pointing across the room as she refocused on the computer screen.

Jim looked immensely relieved, hopping off his stool and heading over to the files. "No problem! Whatever you need, Jim's your man."

Mark smiled and shook his head. "Sometimes I really feel old, and it's safe to say this is one of those times. Brings back memories though."

"Hard to imagine you acting like that," David said, jerking his head in the direction of Jim's ingratiating routine.

"When I was younger. A _lot_ younger. I knew my wife before I went off to fight in 'Nam, but she wasn't interested in me then. I was too much of a boy, too foolish, too much of a dreamer. When I came back... I wasn't that boy any longer."

"You hoping that'll happen with Jim?"

"Lord, no," Mark said vehemently. "Those years before the war were the happiest of my life. When I met my wife afterwards, she was shocked how much I'd changed, said she was surprised how much she missed the old me. She put up with me though, all those years of pain that the war caused me. When I see her again, I want to tell her how much I appreciate her sticking by me all this time. I should've said it before."

David grunted in agreement. He wasn't good with sentiment, but he appreciated what Mark was saying.

Alyssa and Jim broke into an argument as she started grilling Linda for information. David suppressed a grin. If anyone could wheedle information out of these scientists, it was her. He wasn't usually a fan of talkers, but unlike Kevin and Cindy, she didn't just talk to voice the empty thoughts in her head. Alyssa was cunning, shrewd, and she cut through bullshit without giving a fuck what people thought.

"I guess we're stuck looking for this Carter," Mark said, getting to his feet. "I hope this guy's got some good tricks up his sleeve, because I am not interested in dealing with Hunters again."

"We don't need him," David said. "We can just kill every last Hunter between us and the exit."

"It's a good idea to accept help when you can," Mark replied. "That way you stay alive longer."

They headed into the hallway with guns at the ready. The glare and smoke from the fire obscured David's surroundings. It was damned annoying. Even with a war veteran at his back, he didn't want to get sloppy. At the end of the day, you could only rely on yourself.

A footstep behind him. David whirled and trained the gun on the newcomer.

Yoko stared back up at him with kitten eyes and he lowered the gun with a sigh.

"What are you doing here, child?" Mark asked her. "You'd be safer staying with Jim in the lab."

She chewed her lip, saying nothing. From what David had observed before, she would probably prefer to have her leg gnawed off by a Hunter than spend time with Jim.

"I want to come with you," Yoko said. "I used to work for Umbrella, I could be useful."

Mark nodded and beckoned her as they set off again. David was less pleased. It wasn't that he disliked Yoko. The trouble was that she relied on others too much. He knew Kevin didn't mind that, but the cop seemed to worship himself so much that he probably welcomed distressed damsels. And Mark was the type to take younger and more inexperienced people under his wing to protect them.

David... wasn't like that. He didn't like having people rely on him. He wasn't even sure why Yoko would trust him like that, it was clear most of the others didn't. With Mark he had a mutually beneficial partnership, but they could both take care of themselves so there was no pressure. The girl, though, she followed him around like he was her personal bodyguard, and it made him feel like he had to watch out for her.

Damn, things were easier when he was on his own.

The Hunters didn't take long to arrive. Their claws clicking on the metal floor gave them away before the group saw them.

He and Mark held their ground and gunned down the creatures, with Yoko firing a few shots too. The other man still favoured his handgun, despite the better weapons that had been offered. David figured his reluctance had something to do with his time in Vietnam.

One of the Hunters leapt through the air and David ducked out of the way. The creature smacked down where he had been a second ago, its claws raking the metal. David blasted it a couple more times with the shotgun, avoiding its dying lash of claws as it sank to the ground.

"Tough bastards," Mark grumbled. "What exactly could Carter have to help us fight these?"

"Something worse, probably," David replied. That sounded like the sort of thing scientists would do – unleash a greater horror to fight a minor horror.

The observation mezzanine was through a large room filled with Hunters. They were trapped behind a laser wall, unable to touch the group and zapped by lasers when they tried.

"What could this be used for?" Mark wondered.

"Experiments," Yoko said, eyes narrowed as she watched the Hunters prowling.

They could see Carter up in the observation window, messing around with a computer terminal. Presumably the glass was reinforced, otherwise the Hunters would have burst through and killed him by now.

The three of them headed up to meet him.

"Seems your guess wasn't so far off the mark, son," Mark said grimly.

As he entered, David saw what the older man meant. Beside the terminal where Carter worked, a monster waited inside a tank. It looked almost human, but insanely tall and pallid. The creature's eyes were closed, as though it was asleep, but he was quite certain the plan was to wake it up.

"Oh good, you're here!" the scientist said from his terminal, sounding distracted. David and Yoko approached him, leaving Mark to stare at the creature. "I'm just missing part of the code fragment that will help me control him. You see that collar there? I can use it to reprogram him to target only the Hunters. You should be able to obtain the code if you take an MO Disk down to the mainframe." The scientist looked away from the terminal, blinking expectantly at them.

"I don't take requests, pal."

"Well then, I guess you're doomed," replied Carter, looking far too smug.

"You're gonna rely on that?" David asked, jerking his head at the creature in the tank. "You nuts?"

"Everything will be fine, Chief."

David narrowed his eyes. It was increasingly frustrating having to deal with these people. If he'd gone his own way, he wouldn't be running stupid errands for scientists who wanted to get them all killed.

If they really could make a cure though...

Damn.

He left for the mainframe with an MO Disk, muttering to himself. "Dick. Throwing me to the wolves. Are all scientists pricks?"

"Most of them," Yoko said quietly. He glanced at her, and was surprised to see a small smile. Well, she more than anyone had reason to feel that way. Forget exposing Umbrella, he ought to kill them all. People like them, all they knew was how to destroy.

It was a short trip to the mainframe, but involved fighting a few more Hunters. If this new creature could easily taken down these things, how much easier would it find it to turn on the humans? He hoped this stupid code thing worked.

Yoko took care of the data for the MO disk. David and Mark stood guard and kept an eye on the door.

"I'm not convinced some bit of code on a computer can control something like that," the veteran said.

"It should work... in theory," Yoko said softly.

"Yeah. It's the 'in theory' part that's worrying me."

"It looks human," David pointed out. "Doesn't that mean it can think for itself?" The zombies they'd met so far didn't have much in the way of brains, but they were just bodies. This thing was something else.

"It's a Tyrant," said Yoko. "I remember... experiments. Not many people can survive the transformation, but those that do... they become pure killing machines. It can think on a rudimentary level, like a predator, but it doesn't have any capacity for reason and emotion like a human." She turned round, meeting each of their gazes. "If it did turn on us, it would show no mercy."

"Then we won't show it any either," David replied. Just one more fucker looking to eat a bullet. He could deal with that.

They took the disk back to the arrogant little scientist and watched as he woke the thing up.

Its eyes opened slowly, but it didn't need to adjust after sleeping. Instead, charged straight through the reinforced glass and landed amidst the Hunters.

They shrieked at it, clearly seeing it as a threat. As they launched themselves, talons swiping, the Tyrant beat them back. It didn't have any fancy moves, just raw power. David could hear the bones snapping as it punched them and threw them across the room.

Once it was finished, it stalked towards the hallways where the other Hunters lurked.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Carter asked excitedly.

"Son, that thing is a monster," Mark said in a flat tone.

"Don't worry, this little device here will stop anything bad from happening." He waved a bomb remote. "One button press and bam, a chip in his head will blow."

"I don't have a whole lot of faith in this fancy technology," Mark murmured to himself, eyeing the devastation the Tyrant had caused below.

David glanced at Yoko. She was shivering, hands clamped over her upper arms like she was trying to make herself smaller. "Hey," he said as gently as he could. She didn't seem to hear him.

"Yoko?" he placed a hand on her shoulder, and she startled, looking up at him before glancing back down at the dead Hunters.

"I feel sick."

"This isn't first time you've seen one of them kill?"

She shook her head. "No... It isn't."

David didn't pry any further. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. Whatever she had gotten mixed up with in her past, it seemed to him that she had paid enough times over for it.

Mark led, heading for the elevator where they were supposed to meet Linda, while David brought up the rear. Carter seemed to have gone on ahead.

The Tyrant moved through the halls, seemingly unaware of their presence. It didn't try actively to help them or harm them. It just looked for Hunters and killed them brutally. Yoko cringed away from the creature whenever it came near, dropping back until she was close to David.

"It doesn't look at us, but I feel like it's watching us," she whispered.

"It's a hunter as much as those reptiles," he replied. "It knows we're weaker, but it probably hasn't factored these." He indicated the shotgun in his hands, and she gave a small nod.

It wasn't much, but it was all he had for reassurance. The presence of several guns strapped to his body sure made _him_ feel more comfortable.

They continued through the corridors, all of which looked strangely similar. The three of them ended up taking a wrong turn and appeared at an elevator that would take them down to a basement level. Yoko mentioned that it would likely have access to the sewers. That wasn't much of a surprise, given Umbrella's fascination with hiding freaks in the sewers. No wonder the city had gone tits up.

The three of them were just about to turn back when the door at the end of the corridor opened and Alyssa came tearing through.

"Get in the elevator!" she yelled.

David immediately did as she said, and the other two filed in after him. Alyssa skidded into the elevator, followed a moment later by Jim.

The elevator doors closed, and they descended. Alyssa slumped against the wall, chest heaving. She looked like she had just run for miles. Jim wasn't much better, and he had a look of sheer terror to go with it.

Mark clasped the younger man's shoulder, steadying him. "What happened, son? Where are the others?"

"I... I don't know," Jim panted. "We were with Linda at the elevator. Fuck, what if she's dead? That big guy that Carter woke up showed up out of nowhere and killed him. Then it hit Linda and she fell. It came after us, but we managed to get away. It was smashing up the other elevator when we ran for it."

"That thing's way too intelligent," Alyssa said. "It destroyed the cure, threw the bomb switch away and stopped us getting to the surface."

It really was a predator then. They had been right, something worse than the Hunters had been unleashed.

"Did you try fighting it?" David asked.

"Did we–?!" Jim spluttered. "Did you see what that thing did to the Hunters? It didn't even flinch when they were tearing it up with their claws!"

"We shot it a few times when it killed Carter," Alyssa sighed. "Fucking nothing."

Silence fell on the group as they digested this new information. The cure was destroyed, and likely their only source of a new cure was dead. A monster was hunting them. And they were travelling deeper into the Umbrella facility instead of escaping. David had had better days.

"What about Kevin?" Yoko asked. "Or Cindy and George?"

"We didn't see them," Alyssa replied heavily.

When they opened the elevator doors, they were met with the sewers. At least they could escape this way. They would still be stuck in the city, without a cure, but Linda's helicopter might still be out there waiting. Even if it wasn't, there wasn't a chance in hell that David would just stay here waiting to die.

The sewers stank, but even Alyssa and Jim weren't really in the mood to complain. Three of the group were potentially dead, and everyone here had to deal with the fact that they had abandoned them.

Mark seemed particularly unhappy about it, probably because of his military history. He tended to see all of them as his soldiers. It probably stung particularly badly because he liked Cindy and George. Yoko seemed the worst affected, since the pretty much idolised Kevin. The cop had been her hero figure, the kind of person she clearly wanted David to be.

Meanwhile, he just got on with it. His own survival took priority over grieving.

It wasn't long before they found some hope.

Down below, among the refuse of the sewer, lay Linda. She looked in pretty bad shape. It wasn't much of a surprise considering how far she had fallen. Somehow, she seemed to be moving slightly.

"We have to get down there," Alyssa said. She took off running without looking to see if the others would follow. There didn't seem to be any kind of ladders to get them down safely. Eventually, they managed to find some kind of waste chute large enough for them all to jump down into the filth and sewer water.

Neither Alyssa nor Jim complained about that either. A new mood had taken them over, now that the chance for a cure was back on the table. Everything they needed was inside Linda's head. All they had to do was get to her and make sure she survived.

"Damn, you must be made of iron," Jim exclaimed.

Linda gave a shaky laugh. "I don't think my arm or my ankle agree with you. I'm sure something's broken."

"I wish George was here, or Cindy," said Jim. "They'd know what to do for you."

"I'll bind your arm to your body," said Mark. "It's all I can do to help. I'm no doctor, but I've done it before."

"I knew we shouldn't have woken up that monster," Linda sighed in frustration. "I told him. Carter… And now the capsule's gone too. That was the one thing we had to make it right."

"You can make another though, right?" Alyssa asked.

"Sure, if I can get out of here and convince the government to let me try. I'll need your help; Rodriguez said he wasn't going to hold that chopper for long."

Linda squinted at something beyond them, and they turned to see the distant figures of Kevin, Cindy and George.

"Are they... still alive?" Jim asked. "Or did they change?"

"They're definitely still alive," Alyssa said. "I refuse to believe that Kevin would still have that goofy smile on his face even as a zombie."

David smirked. He had to admit he felt… relieved. Why? He didn't really like any of them, though the doctor wasn't bad. Whether they lived or died shouldn't mean anything to him. Yet it did make him feel a little lighter.

Kevin waved an arm at them and started over, followed by Cindy and George. The waitress was having to lean on the doctor, and seemed injured. Probably the Tyrant's doing. Had they killed it, or was it still roaming around upstairs?

David froze. Some rushing noise drifted to them from far away. It was getting closer.

Yoko looked up at him. "Is that–?"

In a split second, he grabbed hold of her wrist and clamped his hand around a pipe, before a wave of water crashed into them from above.

The others screamed as the current dragged them away. With a stab of horror, he saw Linda swept clear of the pipe Jim was clinging onto. The water hit them relentlessly, the foul liquid trying to get into David's nose and mouth to choke him.

Yoko's hand was too slippery in his, and he tightened his grip.

His pipe wrenched free of the wall and David was yanked backwards into the tide, Yoko's hand slipping free. He couldn't even see her as the filthy water gritted his eyes. He felt himself being battered around like a ship in a storm, and wildly reached out for any kind of anchor.

He fastened his hand around something cold and metal, and it bit into his skin like a garrotte. He couldn't let go now or the water would take him.

Moments later, as suddenly as it had come, the tide died down.

David sagged to the ground until the water was only waist-height. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

The only one left was Jim, who was still clutching a tattered length of pipe and whimpering. His eyes were shut fast, as though whatever was happening couldn't be real if he didn't look. Just David's luck to be stuck with a man-child.

"Get a hold of yourself," he snapped in frustration. "We're not dead yet."

He grabbed Jim by the arm and forcibly dragged the other man into a standing position.

"Yeah, not yet!" Jim cried, irate. "It's just a matter of time though, right? Have you counted the number of shitty things that keep happening to us? We just lost Linda twice and she's the only one with a cure! And what about the others? What if they're all dead?"

"It doesn't matter," David ground out. "We just need to keep moving."

Jim looked at him askance. "You're not honestly telling me you don't care? I don't believe it, yo."

David looked away. "It doesn't matter what I think. It happened. We have to move."

He left the bewildered man and waded through the water, collecting a couple of things he'd dropped. The shotgun he had been carrying was gone, but he still had a couple of handguns.

The sound of splashing behind him suggested that Jim had decided to follow after all.

David had meant what he had said. There was no point in tearing his hair out over the loss of the cure, or his allies. He still felt that kernel of anger and bitterness at their loss. He had liked some of those people. Despite his reservations, he had gotten attached to them and come to respect them.

He could still feel Yoko's hand slipping free of his, impossible to hold onto in the torrent. She shouldn't have trusted him to protect her. He had known that nothing good could come of it.

David pushed the thoughts away and stalked through the sewer. The water soaking his clothing was cold and disgusting. It had also washed some heavily decayed zombies into their path. He shot them down without breaking stride.

All that mattered was getting to that helicopter.

Something was moving in the water up ahead. It was impossible to be stealthy here. David gripped his handgun and approached cautiously. He hadn't forgotten about the Tyrant. Behind him, Jim followed uneasily.

They rounded the corner, and David stopped dead in his tracks. Mark.

Jim made a noise somewhere between a yelp and a squeal of excitement, before rushing forwards and grabbing the big man by the arms, trying to pull him to his feet.

"Oh, easy there, son," Mark groaned. "I think I might've hurt something. I'm not exactly as fit as I used to be."

"You're alive!" Jim exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"I managed to grab onto this strut, but I saw the others get swept all the way down this tunnel. God knows where they ended up."

David found his voice. "Can you walk?"

"I–"

Mark grabbed them both by the arm and dragged them behind the struts that supported the upper platform. They stopped moving as he motioned them to be silent.

Above came the heavy tread of something that couldn't be human. It was slow and patient, like a predator picking up a scent.

David glanced at Jim. The other man was a liability. He could be unpredictable when nervous. If Jim ran now, when Mark was injured and all David had was a handgun... The only person worse in this situation was Kevin, who would probably start shooting at it like an idiot. He levelled a death glare at the subway worker. Jim recoiled, but he stayed put and stayed silent.

A few minutes later, the footsteps faded and the Tyrant disappeared. Mark made them wait a little longer in case it was a trap, until he finally exhaled and nodded.

"That thing showed up when the water came. I don't think it saw me since it was watching the others get washed downriver."

"You think maybe it caused it?" Jim asked. "Opened a sluice gate or something?"

That wasn't something any of them wanted to consider.

"Hey, look!" Jim grabbed something off a heap of rubbish. It was the detonator for the Tyrant's head. "That was dropped down here at the same time as Linda. How the hell did it get over here?"

"Cindy's group may have found it," Mark suggested. "Could come in useful if the Tyrant returns."

David shrugged. He didn't want to put his faith in something the scientists had cooked up. Look where that had gotten everybody so far.

They headed up the ladder, wanting to get moving before it returned. Mark had difficulty, due to some pain in his chest. David hoped that his internal organs hadn't been damaged. Mark was strong, a survivor. David had done him wrong by writing the man off as dead so easily. He deserved to be reunited with his family.

The manhole at the top of the ladders opened out onto the main street.

The last time David had been here, it had been in chaos. Fire, zombies, abandoned cars. Now it looked like the scene of a natural disaster. The road had been churned up and the walls of buildings had collapsed onto it. The helicopter would be further down the street, but they would only be able to reach it directly by clambering through the debris – and David didn't fancy taking the long route.

Something slammed through the debris of a nearby building.

The Tyrant. It started twitching and jerking. The monster threw its head back and roared as a huge talon burst out of its fist. Its body started to contort as it transformed into a true monster. The human appearance vanished and was replaced with something of claw and muscle.

"Jim, the detonator," David growled.

"I ain't getting close to that thing!" he yelled, clutching the control.

David moved to rip it from the other man's grasp and do it himself, when the Tyrant launched itself forwards. If the previous version had been deadly, this thing was a nightmare.

The ground seemed to shake as it charged, and even though he threw himself to the side, the sweeping talon battered his shoulder. He managed to shift into a roll and get away, but he felt like he'd been hit by a freight train. The claw had immense reach, and threw wreckage into the air like confetti.

Mark drew the creature away with gunfire before it could reach Jim. It turned slowly, as though considering who would make the best victim. There was no way Mark could go toe-to-toe with that thing. Even uninjured, he was the least agile of them.

David eyed the mountain of debris that lay between them and the helicopter. He could just about see a tunnel through to the other side. A plan formed.

He darted over to Jim and snatched the bomb remote out of his hands. "Get through to the helicopter!"

Jim needed no motivation to run away, and he was off in a second.

David started to move away from the tunnel, firing at the Tyrant. It turned its attention towards him, and he started to circle towards Mark, forcing the other man to limp round to the tunnel, so that they still had it between them.

The Tyrant charged at David. He leapt out of the way again, hitting the ground heavily and rolling clear as the claw gouged the pavement where he'd landed. "Mark, go after Jim, now!"

"Roger that!"

The Tyrant looked up from David to Mark and started towards the veteran as he made his way through the tunnel.

Fuck, this thing was too smart.

David sprinted past it and into the tunnel. The creature roared and charged after him. He narrowly avoided being skewered by that claw in the confined space.

He flipped the switch on the detonator. The Tyrant howled, keeling forwards as an explosion fired in its head.

David shot out of the tunnel before it could crush him. It lay there, completely immobile. He didn't trust that it was dead. One of the others would probably have a better explanation, but all he knew is that these things rarely died so easily.

Inside the helicopter, Linda's contact was waiting. Rodriguez wasn't pleased with the news about Linda, but he wasn't keen on waiting for her to show, either. David felt an inexplicable guilt well up inside him at the thought of leaving the city now.

"How you got a map of the city?" Jim asked. "Of the sewer layout?"

Rodriguez nodded, laying it out on a crate and frowning as the subway worker peered over it. "What the hell are you even looking for?"

"These tunnels aren't so different to the subway network. I think..." He trailed his finger along one of the tunnels, tapping his finger where it intersected with a manhole. "I think I know where they might've washed up."

"_If _they're alive," Rodriguez pointed out.

David met Jim's eyes, and then Mark's. He nodded silently. If they were going to do this, then he would too. How could he fly off and save his own skin when a coward, and a man with more reason to escape than any of them, were prepared to go and rescue a bunch of strangers. It's not like they even had a cure. If he had to die, why shouldn't it be for this?

They took off, leaving the safety of the helicopter to follow Jim's map through the decimated streets.

It was unnerving how silent it was. Where were all the zombies? Dead? Or was something happening elsewhere that had drawn them away. For all he knew, there could even be an expiration date on that virus before it ate up their whole bodies. They could even turn on each other.

They moved through the eerie street quietly, but something was nagging at David. He felt like prey. It was the feeling of being watched.

As they came off the footbridge, Jim narrowly avoided having his leg blown off by a mine. The man managed to stumble and drop his lucky coin onto ground, only to reel backwards as it got blown into shrapnel.

David thought the guy might turn around there and head back, but instead he started chuckling like an idiot. "I knew it. I knew that coin was lucky. It saved my damn life!"

"Goddamn," Mark sighed, rubbing his face with a hand. He looked sick. For a second, David thought it was his injury. Then he realised that the shock of encountering a landmine here, in Mark's hometown, must have brought back bad memories.

There was no time to stop, but they had to move more cautiously now. It was making David sweat, the idea of having something so dangerous lurking anywhere underfoot. This was worse than zombies. At least he could fight them. Why was it that people were always the most dangerous creature?

Getting through the side roads and back alleys was difficult. What hadn't been barricaded was full of corpses, with one sinking its teeth into Mark as he struggled to keep up with his injuries. David had wanted to leave him in the helicopter, but the veteran wouldn't let others go without him.

Luckily, the zombie triggered a landmine, eviscerating it and throwing Jim clear. David was just hauling him back to his feet as they heard a yell further down the street.

His breath caught in his throat as he saw the shuffling but determined figures of the other survivors approaching. At their head was Alyssa, limping and supporting Kevin, waving an arm over her head to attract attention. Cindy seemed to be unconscious in George's arms, but she couldn't be dead – they would have left her otherwise. And best of all was Linda being supported by Yoko. Their cure was safe. _They_ were safe.

Ignoring his weariness, he sprinted the distance, trying to keep his expression composed despite the overwhelming relief.

"Damn, am I glad to see you guys," Kevin grunted.

David took the cop's arm and slung it over his shoulder. That allowed Alyssa to take some of the weight off her ankle.

"We thought you were dead!" Jim exclaimed as the group reached him.

"And you came for us anyway?" Alyssa asked in surprise, glancing at David. He ignored it, but couldn't help feeling a quiet satisfaction.

"No one gets left behind," said Mark.

"Damn right," Kevin said with a quiet chuckle. For all his bravado, he seemed surprised too that the others had come back for them.

They made for the overpass as quickly as they could, Linda concerned that her pal might have flown off and left them. David found himself not caring much. They had the cure, and they were safe. They could find another way out if need be.

Jim and Mark were fussing over Cindy, who barely seemed aware of them. The subway worker drifted over to Yoko and started yammering about their adventures. David met her gaze, and the student gave him a small smile. He returned it. How had it taken this kind of catastrophe for him to find people he could like and trust?

As they neared the helicopter, David heard a low growl, something predatory. From the mountain of debris where he'd hit it earlier, the Tyrant appeared. It smashed its way through, looking even more insane and murderous than before.

"Get on the chopper!" David ordered. "Go, I'll hold it off!"

He took aim with his handgun, using what few bullets he had left to keep it distracted while the injured made their escape. A small part of his mind registered this as suicidal, but he didn't care. The others weren't in any state to face this thing.

The gun clicked as he ran out. In that second, the Tyrant swiped at him, and in his exhausted state he reacted too slow. The claw caught his leg, tearing into the flesh and breaking bones. He howled in pain as he was thrown aside like a rat. The pain blinded him, leaving him barely aware as a pair of hands grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet.

"Lean on me," said Alyssa. She steered him to the chopper, bowing under the extra weight on her ankle. The others appeared in the doorway, covering their escape with what bullets they had left. Mark hefted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder, approaching the Tyrant with a grim expression and taking a knee.

"We've gotta go!" Rodriguez yelled.

Mark's rocket hit the monster straight in the chest, and it let out a howl of pain, finally collapsing.

It drifted out of sight as the helicopter lifted into the sky, carrying them away from the dead city. Away from the missiles sent to destroy it. Away from their previous lives, their ties. And perhaps to a new start for all of them.


End file.
